The rise of the Chicken
by sailorraven34
Summary: Vanessa is on her way back to HIVE when she gets captured by her stepmother and her grandfather. Lucy, Otto and the others form a crazy plan to escape and rescue her, and Raven deals with Vanessa's father, who she thought was dead, mysteriously re-appearing... and on the wrong side!
1. Prolouge

Prologue

_Nero knocked quietly on the door. He heard footsteps, then Raven opened it. She was dripping when, and there were bubbles in her hair. _

"_What the heck are you doing?" Nero asked._

"_Giving Vanessa a bath." Raven said. She carefully pulled a bubble from her hair and blew it towards him. _

"_Should I wait, then?" Nero said._

"_Nah, I'm almost done." Raven stepped out of his way, and Nero entered the room and sat on Raven's bed. He noticed that half the weapons covering the walls had been taken down and shoved in a corner. The rest had been covered in… duct tape. _

_Raven vanished into the bathroom for a few minutes. He heard laughing and shrieking coming from behind the door, and then Raven yelled "No, don't touch that-" There was what sounded like a gigantic splash, then Raven returned carrying a baby girl wrapped in a towel. There was now a washcloth on her head, and she was more wet than ever. _

"_So why'd you say you came?" Raven said, drying Vanessa off. _

"_I didn't. It's about… your daughter." _

"_Okay." Raven stood up and rummaged in drawer for a few minutes before producing a pair of small pink pajamas. As she attempted to put them on Vanessa, Nero continued. _

"_It's just… she's really little and… you know they're going to want her. "_

_Raven nodded. "Yeah, so? She'll grow." _

"_They don't want you anymore." _

"_Great for them. They finally caught on that I hate them."_

"_They want to kill you and take her." _

"_I really don't see how this matters, Max." Raven said. She set Vanessa next to him. "I knew all of this already." _

"_I would have been okay with it if Mark hadn't… you know." Nero said quietly. "But as it is… it's too dangerous, Natalya." He set Vanessa on his knee. _

_Raven snatched her away from him. "No. No, no, no, no, no." _

"_It's better this way." Nero said. "When she's older… you can find her and tell her." _

"_No!" Raven yelled. "I've already lost Mark, you're not taking Vanessa too!" _

"_I'm really sorry about this." Nero said, then jabbed the side of her neck. Raven collapsed onto the bed, unconscious. He took this little girl from her. _

"_I really am sorry." he said, then walked out the door and was gone. _


	2. A very rude awakening

**I promised myself I wouldn't put the prolougue in the middle this time.**

**But I really want to start posting this... and I have zip ideas for the prolougue so once again it ends up in the middle. **

**Sigh. **

Chapter 1

Nero and Raven go to war over a breakfast pastery, and pizza is discussed.

I woke to a boy with white hair staring into my face.

So, naturally, I screeched "OTTO? WHAT ARE YOU DOING IN MY ROOM!"

He winced. (I suppose I was rather loud.) "Following Shelby." He said, pointing over his shoulder.

I looked past Otto and saw Shelby. "Well," I said, less loudly this time "What is _Shelby_ doing in my room?"

"Ask Shelby." Otto mumbled. Shelby grinned. "Waiting for you to wake up. Oh, and you snore."

The look on my face must have been good, because Shelby fell to the floor, gasping with laughter.

"Gotcha!" she gasped. I glared at her. Then I noticed that there were seven UNIVITED teenage guests in my bedroom. Franz had the good grace to wait in the doorway. All though that may have been because he didn't fit in the room, on account of Ben Sanderson, Walter Fanchu, Shelby Trinity, Otto Malpense, Nigel Darkdoom, Lucy Prescott, Sophie Neal and her ever-present flute were taking up all the space. They must have been waiting for me to wake up.

It's a good thing I don't snore.

Anyway, I tried to smooth down my hair (which was, predictably, sticking straight up) and asked "What time is it?"

"7:30" Nigel said.

"Oh, nuts! I have to get to school!" I sat up and yanked off the covers. My face went red as I realized I was wearing my pink kitten pajamas.

"You don't have to worry about school." Sophie said.

"Why?" I asked

"Because you have to deal with me for a week!" Shelby yelled. "And nice PJ's"

I looked to Walter for clarification.

"You're going to HIVE for a week." He said.

"YES!" I exclaimed, pumping my fist in the air "No algebra!"  
"Vanessa." Nigel said, trying not to laugh "there's algebra at HIVE too."

"NOOOOOOOOOO!" I yelled

"What's all the racket?" came a sleepy voice from the doorway. Now, Raven generally doesn't walk around with her hair all messed up in Sailor Moon pajamas. So, my friends were a little surprised that the person who stood in my door now was the world's deadliest assassin. "And why is Nero in MY kitchen eating toaster strudel?"

"Who knows about Nero." Shelby said "And Vanessa is expressing how she feels about algebra."

"Whatever." Raven said, with a yawn. She pushed her dark hair from her eyes. "But can someone please stop that man before he eats my breakfast?"

"Breakfast?" Franz yelled "WHERE?"

I shooed everyone from my room and got dressed, threw some stuff into my backpack, and ran a brush through my hair, which refused to cooperate so I shoved it into two spikey things that vaguely resembled ponytails. I raced into the living room to a scene of complete chaos. Walter was lighting the drapes on fire, Shelby was freezing the flames, Ben was turning the lights on and off and on and off, Lucy was (duh) yelling at Nigel, my little brother Max was screaming, Raven was trying to shut Max up and singing the Sailor Moon theme song (her singing can be compared to two ducks and a chicken being strangled while falling off a cliff with metal railings) and Mr. Nero and Franz were fighting over a toaster strudel.

"Be QUIET!" I yelled at everyone, who continued what they were doing. So I cursed in Russian, which somehow shut everyone up.

"What was _that_?" Shelby asked.

"Something in russian, I guess."

"And what were you saying?" Franz asked (actually, he said "af ruff booth do maiking?" but I prefer the understandable version.)

"I was swearing." I replied, blushing.

"And _how_ exactly do you know Russian swear words?" Lucy asked skeptically.

"Blame _her_" I said, indicating Raven.

"I need a way to express my annoyance at that idiot!" Raven yelled, pointing to Mr. Nero, who was on his third toaster strudel.

"Hey!" Nero exclaimed. "Who was the one on April fools who ran around looking out all the windows when I told her Sailor Moon was outside? And there were _18156_ windows!" He raised his toaster strudel threateningly. Raven reached under the couch cushion, pulling out her katana. If I didn't do something, and _fast_ this was going to turn into a ninja fight/food fight. So I took the most direct course of action. I snatched the toaster strudel from Mr. Nero's hand and popped it into my mouth.

"So." I said brightly, waving my backpack nonchalantly "Shall we be going?"

###

"_Pizza?_" Mr. Nero said "It's 10 o'clock in the morning, Shelby Trinity! You want to get PIZZA?"

"Pizza is awesome." Shelby snapped, snatching my cell "even AT 10 o'clock in the morning."

"Spoken like a true teenager." Walter muttered

Shelby slugged him in the arm and dialed without missing a beat.

"Put the phone _down_." Said the person sitting across from us. She pulled off her hood and pointed a gun at me.

I raised my hand up and yelled "BLUE CRYSTAL POWER!"

Water flowed down from me hand and swirled in a whirlpool around me, forming ribbons that wrapped my arms and waist. Then it evaporated, leaving me in my stupid black dress. Why was it SO FREAKING SHORT? Did Laura wear dresses this short? Is that why Otto went out with her? I tried to push the stupid Otto/Laura conflict out of my mind and concentrated on the battle before me. On my side we had five kids with kind-of super powers, a weird pony obsessed headmaster, a bossy vice president of the student council, and 3 other friends. The evil people had at least 20 minions….and a bus….and the bus had a window…. A WINDOW!


	3. We are abducted by aliens

Chapter 2

We get abducted by aliens, and Lucy flips out. (Story of my life.)

Okay, so by now your probably thinking... "Uhhh... what the heck is she doing?" So here I am, to explain it to you.

So until a year or so ago, I was just a regular kid. (Oh, and btw my name is Vanessa Montov, and I'm 13 years old.)Then I met these kids: Otto, Shelby, Wing and Laura and this lady named Raven, who took me to the ship that is not a ship, AKA the Higher Institute of VIlainious Education. (And no, there is no lower institute. I know, I don't get it either. And what's with all these abreviations? We have H.I.V.E. and G.L.O.V.E. Why can't we just call it the Villain Council or something? What? Grr. Otto has informed me the abreviation for that would also stand for 'vacum cleaner'. WHATEVER!) Anyway, we went on this big adventure that ended with Raven saying she was my mum, and Otto kissing me.

Yes, I know, very awesome, but when I come back into the picture six months later, (and on my birthday of all days!) Otto and Laura are going out. Yes, I know. Condolences may be sent to- what NOW? Oh. Well, aperantly Raven won't let me give out her address. Well, piffle on her! Anyway, so I was distracted from that by that fact that ninjas were attacking HIVE. To sum it up, we won the battle but if my life wasn't bizzare enough already, I got magic powers over water. Shelby has ice, Wing has fire and my sort-of friend Ben has light and stuff. Oh, and this guy named Nigel has powers too, but I can't remember what they are becuase I keep forgetting that he exists. ANYWAY, so we kicked ninja butt but then MY FATHER WHO IS SUPPOSED TO BE DEAD SHOWS UP and freaks Raven out, and the next day when I finaly get some normal time, announces she's pregnant. And that's how I ended up with a three-month-old baby brother, Max. What? Oh. Raven says he's four months old, as if it matters.

Anyway, back to my predicament.

I tilted my head to Shelby. I quickly then launched a high kick at Raincoat Lady. Shelby used the distraction to shatter the bus windows. Lucy figured out what we were up to (I SWARE she READS MY MIND!) and plucked glass shards from the window frame. Then she vaulted through the window and ran to the side walk.

"How am I supposed to be fitting through the window?" Franz asked.

"Shut up and die." Shelby growled. "PURPLE CRYSTAL SHATTER!" One of the minions exploded into a thousand purple shards.

Nero glared at the window. Then he leaped through. Suddenly, Sophie collapsed.

"They've got some kind of sleeper!" Shelby yelled. Then she too collapsed.

I swore. Walter climbed out the window. The bus was going faster and faster.

Then everything went black.

###

Ally stood up from her seat and looked at the five children. The first girl received no more than a passing glance. No one of importance, at least not to the plan. But the next child sent a smile acrossed her face.

Ally knelt down and clipped a glass bracelet around the girl's wrist. She did so for the next boy, skipped the blond one and looked at the last prisoner. She had raven-black hair and pale skin. She rolled over and muttered "and I'd like fries with my kiwi lamp, please. Now go eat Darth Vader's cheese cake."

"Raven's brat," Ally muttered. She clipped a bracelet around the girl's wrist, then walked up front of the bus and said to the driver "Nero got away. So did Malpense."

"Doesn't matter," the driver said. "We have enough bait."

"We need all seven warriors." Ally snapped.

"The others will come to rescue their friends. Don't worry," the man said confidently "It'll work. Natalya is weak. She'll do just about anything to save the girl."

"And what about the other part? Is all going according to the plan?"

"Yes, Ally. Be patient. You will have your revenge."

"But what about N-Raven?"

The man laughed. "Raven won't be able to stop us," he said. "No one will."

###

Otto, Walter,Ben and Lucy sat dejectedly in the accomodations block. Well, the boys were sitting dejectedly. Lucy was franticly texting on her blackbox, which could hardly be called that anymore, seeing as it was pink, sparkly and had a bunch of skull and crossbone charms hanging off of it.

"AWE!" Lucy yelled suddenly, causing everyone in the general vicinity to jump.

"What's wrong?" Otto asked.

"Some idiot hacked my email again!" Lucy yelled at Otto. Otto wasn't quite sure what he'd done, but he decided to tread carefully. This was a must when dealing with Lucy Presscott.

"Can I try to un-hack it?" Otto asked.

"No!" Lucy yelled, holding her Black box out of his reach. Otto supposed it was reasonable for her to do this; he had basically destroyed it six months earlier.

"Umm..." said a quiet voice from behind them. "Do you know where Shelby Trinity is?'

Otto turned around. The speaker was a girl with long blond curls into two ponytails tied back with black ribbons. She spoke with a French accent and her eyes were olive green.

"Yeah." said Otto "Well...no."

"Which is it?" the girl asked.

"No." Ben said shortly. "Why?"

"Apparently, she's supposed to be my roomate." the girl contiued "But since I have no idea where my room is, I decided to find her."

"A word of advice." Lucy said without looking up from her screen. "Get up early or you won't have any time to brush your teeth. Because the instant Trinity wakes up, it's her bathroom time if your ready or not."

"Thanks." the girl said, laughing nervously. "I'm Gabby. Gabby Johnson."

"Lucy Presscott." Lucy said.

"Ben Sanderson." Ben added

"Walter Fanchu," said Walter, shaking a rather surprised Gabby's hand.

"Otto Malpense." Otto said.

"Oh, someone said something about you being a troublemaker." Gabby said.

"Uhhh...you could say that." Otto muttered sheepishly.

"To translate." Lucy said "Yes, I am a troublemaker, so stay away from me unless you want to get shot at."

"I've never been shot at with Otto." Ben protested.

"Oh, really?" said Lucy, arching an eyebrow. "What about two hours ago?"

"That doesn't count! Those were Sleepers!"

"What are Sleepers?" said Gabby "And what happened two hours ago?"

"It's a really long story." Lucy said. "About the thing that happened two hours ago, not the Sleepers. Anyway, a bunch of our friends got captured. And Sleepers are, obviously, ray guns that make you sleep. But they give you an aweful headache."

"How do you know that?" Otto asked.

"Your not the only one who's tried to escape from this place, genius." Lucy said with an evil grin.


	4. Raven embarks on a mission to find coffe

"This sucks." I said as I paced up and down.

"This sucks." I repeated.

"This really, really sucks. " I said again.

"I believe we've established that this sucks." Shelby said. "Now will you shut it?"

"Oh, calm down, Trinity." I said.

"I am calm!" Shelby said hystericly. "I'm very calm! We've only been captured, stuck somewhere and probably gonna die!"

"I am very worried about the current lack of food." Franz said. "I am thinking it should be lunch by now."

"If they serve lunch, they better serve it with mustard." I said.

"Oh, no. No mustard for _you._" Sophie said.

"But I like mustard..." I whined.

"SHUT UP." Shelby screamed. "All of you, just SHUT UP!"

###

"WHAAAATTTT?" Raven yelled, slamming her hands down on the desk. They were balled into fists and Nero knew she would much rather slam them into his face.

"I understand you're upset." Nero explained. "But-"

"Yes, I'm _upset. _" Raven snarled. "Of course I'm_ upset._ You've gotten my daughter caught my the... by the..."

_He was there. He was there. He trapped us, all of us, like birds in a cage. _

"I wasn't... I didn't... I- _he _was there?" Nero sighed. "Look, just calm down, okay? See, I can explain-"

"Oh, here comes the excuses. Well guess what? It's you're own stupid fault I'm mad at you, becuase you're the one that sent me off to go get that girl in the first place!"

"Natalya-"

"DON'T YOU NATALYA ME! I AM _EXTREMELY _ INTERESTED IN KILLING YOU RIGHT NOW, SO YOU JUST-"

"NATALYA SERAFINA MONTOV!" Nero thundered. "This argument is getting us absolutely nowhere! Further more, FURAN has Vanessa, which means..."

"Oh, holy _crud._" Raven muttered. She slapped the desk again. "I didn't think..."

"No, you didn't think." Nero sighed. "And what's more... Mark... he must be..."

"DON'T SAY IT." Raven snarled. reaching across the desk and dragging Nero forward by his tie. "IF YOU SAY IT, I WILL SNAP."

"Okay..." Nero muttered.

"I'm going to go get a cup of coffee. SEVERAL cups of HIGHLY CAFINATED coffee."

"Ookay..." Nero muttered. Raven stormed out of his office, just as what she had said hit him. "WHATTT? NOOOO! COME BACK!"


	5. Nero has a coffee related flashback

**I forgot to put the title of the chapter on the last on, didn't I?**

**Well this is chapter 3. Nero has a flashback, and Raven dashed off on pursuit of caffine**

"Ahh, well." Nero sighed. He should probably send out a mass e-mail- stay out of Raven's way. But he wasn't in the mood. She seemed so excited, so happy at the prospect of coffee, that it reminded him of...

###

**August 12th, 1974, London, England.**

"Whoa." Mint looked around, drinking in the city around her. "Whoa..."

"I though you were, like, an international assassin or something." Bartholomew muttered. "Haven't you seen a city before?"

"Yes, but never with-" Mint corrected herself. "I mean, never like this. Generaly, there's someone either chasing or shooting at me. Or both."

"Oh." Bartholomew shoved his hands even deeper inside his pockets. Max clenched his fist. He knew what Merrin was about to say. "Never with you." Mint had a stupid crush on his older brother, and it DROVE HIM INSANE. He loved Mint with all his heart but she just thought of him as a friend.

"Uhh... are you okay?" Mint asked him. "Becuase you look like you wanna kill something."

"Fine..." Max mumbled.

"Are you sure? Seriously? Becuase I _do not _want to die prematurely at age 11."

"I'll kill Bartholomew, then." Max decided. "Fifteen is better then eleven, right?"

Actually, killing Bartholomew would solve all of his problems. Huh.

"WHAT? NO!" Mint protested.

Oh, except that Mint would hate him for life. Other then that little problem, it'd be great.

"Wake up." Bartholomew poked him. Max looked around.

"Where did Mint go?" he asked.

"She has discovered coffee." Bartholomew explained.

Max looked at him blankly.

"Feel free to start running and screaming." Bartholomew muttered. "I have a feeling this isn't going to be good."


	6. Why my swords are not like Ravens

"Ugg." Shelby said, hanging off one of the cots in the room and yawning. "I'm bored."

"We KNOW." I said. "Because not only are we ALSO bored, you've also SAID THAT LIKE 15 TIMES." I took a bite of chip. "Besid, uf ooh cheurt wuning, ooh cul be dchoing chomung froducie wike me."

"What?" Shelby said. "And that's disgusting. Don't speak with your mouth open."

"You realize what you've just said, right?" I said, swallowing. "I _said _if you weren't whining, you could be doing something productive like me."

"You are eating potatoe chips." Franz said, looking at them mourfully.

"Yes, well." I waved a hand. "I discovered something from eating potatoe chips. "

"Like what? They're stale?"

"No. " I said. "These stupid moron idiots neglected to search my boots."

"So?" Nigel said.

"I keep my _swords_ in my boots." I explained.

"Oh." Nigel said. "Do your swords have a purple force field like Raven's?"

"Nope." I said. "I asked her for it, but she said no. Probably because the day before, when she was at the grocery store I was home with Max, and I was messing around with her ninja throwing stars and I got one stuck in the curtain. Then I tried to pull it out, and pulled the curtain down on Max... and then I got distracted because MaKenzie needed help with homework... and I kind of forgot about Max-"

"How old is he again?" Sophie asked.

"He'll be four months old soon." I replied. "But that's not the point. So while I was struggling over my algebra- see, when MaKenzie was talking about homework I remembered that I had some- Max was having fun with the curtains. It took Raven two hours to untangle him. She wasn't too happy. "

"I can't imagine why she wouldn't want you to have weapons that would cut through anything. " Shelby muttered.

"I'm gonna take a nap." I grumbled.


	7. Raven eats a lot of doughnuts

**Oh, I have Word now, so you no longer need to deal with my stupid spelling errors. VIVA SPELL CHECK!**

Chapter 5

The square dance of death. (A.K.A The Incident That Shall Not Be Mentioned To Vanessa Ever, Ever, EVER!)

Raven did not want to deal with Nero right now. She didn't want to deal with ANYONE right now, period, whatsoever. What she really wanted was… coffee. And so Raven set off in search of coffee. (**Oh, and by the way, I read this part to my mom and she gave me a lesson in coffee. It was very… interesting…) **Proper coffee. A grande mocha with whipped cream and caramel, and possibly some more whipped cream. Oh, and doughnuts. Preferable the ones with cream in the middle… Raven sighed as she flashed back to the pastry shop so many years ago, when she met Aida Lily. And Aida Lily ended up paying for the entire menu of pastries… four times, thanks to Elemere. That was the first time she had tasted a cream filled doughnut…

_Stop going off on doughnut-related tangents and walk! _Raven chided herself as she nearly ran into a stop sign. (Cursed stop signs. They were MADE to be run over.) She made it to the coffee shop without breaking _too _many traffic laws. (Cursed traffic laws. They were MADE to be broken.) She ordered the coffee, and sat down to enjoy the awesomeness of caffeine and then she heard a commotion. She turned around and saw a guy with dressed in black, with a ski mask over his face, point a gun at the clerk. (_Honestly? _Raven thought. _Who robs a coffee shop?_) She started to stand up but before she could do anything there was a crash, and the man fell to the floor as one of the other customers kicked him with her… hot pink 8 inch high heeled boot with gray laces.

_There's only one person I know who wears that ridiculous of footwear. _Raven thought, grinning to herself. The customer threw back the hood of her raincoat, revealing pink cheeks, oversized green eyes, and bobbing golden curls. "God," she growled, with a trace of an American accent. "Can't a girl drink _a cup of coffee _in peace?"

"Hey, Aida Lily." Raven said quietly.

"Natalya?" Aida Lily's face lit up with a broad grin. Just her smile gave Raven a pang, because she was the carbon copy of her sister Ally, who had been her closest friend, and had died a long, long time ago.

"Doughnuts." Raven explained, holding up one and taking a large bite.

"You haven't changed a bit," Aida Lily growled. "and that's Princess to you. Now come on. Rubee- Cherry, whatever the heck she's calling herself, I forget, her house is real close to here."

"_Princess?_" Raven muttered as Aida Lily, or Princess dragged her out the door. "That is the most absurd code name I have heard in my life."

"You shush up." Princess hissed.

She dragged Raven across the street and into a small apartment building. They took the elevator to the third floor, giving Raven a chance to gulp down the four doughnuts she had grabbed as Princess yanked her out of the coffee shop. Princess opened the door of one of the apartments, and they stepped into a room similar to one of Raven's safe houses.

"Cool." Raven said. "But…. why's everything red?"

"Cuz I painted it that way." Said a voice from behind them. "Hi, Natalya. What's up?"


	8. Otto square dances

**Okay, so the reason I made Otto and everyone square dance, is because I had to do it, therefore THEY MUST DO IT. MWAHAHHAHAHA!**

Gabby tugged at the collar of her uniform, smiling shyly at Otto. She looked strange in black for some reason he couldn't quite figure out, but she still looked pretty.

"Do you have any idea what we're do-"she started, but Colonial Francisco interrupted her.

"TODAY WE WILL BE SQUARE DANCING!" he bellowed.

"Uhh…"Ben raised a hand. "Why?"

"BECAUSE I SAID SO!"

"But why are you saying so?" Ben continued.

"YOU JUST EARNED YOURSELF A DETENTION!" Francisco yelled. "NOW SHUSH, SNADERSON!"

"It's _Sanderson._" Ben grumbled, but quietly.

"NOW EVERYONE PARTNER UP AND STAND IN A CIRCLE, BOYS ON THE INSIDE, GIRLS ON THE OUTSIDE!"

Gabby smiled at Otto and tilted her head quizzically. Otto nodded and they joined hands.

After ten minutes of square dancing, Otto was ready to face torture as long as he didn't have to do-si-do one more time. Gabby obviously felt otherwise and was going faster, and faster, and fast-

"KYAAA!" Gabby screamed as she slipped, her feet flying out from under her. She went careening towards Otto, who, like an idiot held out his hands and caught her.

Gabby looked at Otto, startled, her green eyes wide not with shock but complete and utter panic. Her hand flew out and hit his neck, and Otto knew no more.


	9. I get punched in the stomach

Chapter… uh… six.

I get metaphorically punched in the stomach, and cookies are discussed.

Shelby was in a bad mood. I could tell because she was sitting in the corner with her arms crossed, glaring at the wall as she had been for the last hour and a half, while I composed a song detailing how awesome Otto was. (three sheets of paper and counting. Huh. I wonder where I put that. I'll have to look in the closet… oh, yes, my closet is a danger zone. So… I know! I'll get Laura to appear and stand in front of my closet and get bombarded with failed math tests and old pictures and stuffed animals. Genius!)

What was I talking about? I've lost track. Uhhhh…

Oh. Yeah. Well, Franz and Nigel were assisting me… sort of, I'm not sure they got the point, because Franz kept going on and on about the time Otto wouldn't share his French toast with him and I had to keep hitting him with my pillow and reminding him that we were supposed to talk about the GOOD things about Otto and I forgot how this sentence started but EVENTUALLY Shelby looked up and snapped "Otto doesn't give a ^*(# about you, you know."

I glanced at her. "Huh?"

"He sees you as a silly little girl." Shelby snapped. She put her head on her knees. "Give up."

"Ummm… and why should I do that?"

"He. Knows. You. Like. Him. And. He. Thinks. You. Act. Like. A. Little. Brat." Shelby snarled. "Because you _do _act like a little brat. You think you're so awesome just because your mother is Raven. You're always dissing Laura, too. She was my friend, you know. And as far as I'm concerned, _you're_ not. "

I felt like I'd been punched in the stomach.

"Thank God, you finally shut up." Shelby snapped. "Not so smug now, are you?"

I noticed something strange. In the harsh light from the… lightbulbs (yes, the light comes from the lightbulbs. I realize what I just said, Lucy. All though you really don't have to tell Otto. Really. It's fine.) Shelby's eyes seemed almost red…


	10. We eat cookies and talk about ducks

Otto had a splitting headache when he woke up. He was in the hospital wing. Lucy was sitting next to him, absentmindedly rubbing her arm. He noticed there were scars in the shape of letters there- an m, a d, an r, but before he could figure out what they spelled she glanced at him and gave him such a terrifying look he glanced away.

"Whu happened?" he asked groggily.

Wing and Ben quickly came into sight.

"The new girl knocked you out." Wing explained.

"The new girl has a name, you know." Lucy snapped.

"She apologized a bazillion times. " Ben said.

"And she made you cookies." Lucy added.

"Where are these cookies?" Otto questioned.

"Umm… I wanted to… check them for poison…" Ben blushed and looked at his shoes.

"And then Lucy double-checked-" Wing started, but Lucy clapped a hand over his mouth.

"And so…we kinda-sorta-not-really ate them." Lucy finished.

"You guys are _such _excellent friends." Otto muttered.

###

"Mmm… nothing much." Raven said. "Our psychotic friend has my daughter, whose father may or not be living and/or working for the other side, he is also working for Overlord, so that's all very fun and entertaining."

"Wow." Princess said. "Geez, you _still _mange to cause trouble even as an adult."

"Did you really expect her not too?" the newcomer said. She had short red curls and freckles.

"Good point." Princess admitted. "Especially after the department store coupon/hair drier/ duck incident."

"That was not my fault." Raven snapped. "Where's Jacob, Cherry?"

The red haired woman, Cherry, yawned. "The moon." she said.

"Really?" Raven said, looking a little startled.

"No, of course not." Cherry rolled her eyes. "I have no idea."

"You know, I wouldn't actually be surprised if Jacob found a way to go to the moon." Princess said thoughtfully.

"After the department store coupon/hair drier/ duck incident, nothing surprises me anymore." Cherry declared.

Raven gritted her teeth. "Would you two please drop that?"


	11. I lose track of the chapter number

Chapter… oh, forget it.

Very strange things happen.

"It was funny." Cherry protested.

"For you two, maybe." Raven crossed her arms.

"Fine." Princess frowned. "Wait… when you say 'our psychotic friend' you mean… him?"

"Do you EVER pay attention?" Raven yelled.

"Well, we do have a lot of psychotic friends." Cherry reflected.

"Not anymore." Raven said darkly.

"Yes… He's working with Overlord?" Princess asked.

"Yep." Raven confirmed.

"We're all going to die." Cherry said matter-of-factly.

"Well, aren't you little miss sunshine today?" Princess huffed.

"Rubee's right." Raven muttered.

"NOT IF WE HAVE A DARING INFILTRATION PLAN!" Princess screeched.

Raven and Cherry both blinked at her.

"Gyah!" Princess smacked herself in the face. "Somebody tell me what a bad idea this is!"

"It's a bad idea." Raven supplied.

"THANK YOU!" Princess yelled. "BUT THAT'S TOO BAD, BECAUSE I'M GOING TO DO IT ANYWAY!" She ran over to a closet and started pulling out random looking supplies.

"_What _the _heck _is she doing?" Cherry hissed.

"I have no idea." Raven admitted. "But we should probably go try to stop her before she gets killed. "


	12. Lucy gets mad at a piece of metal

Lucy was sitting on the corner of her bed, looking exhausted. Basil tapped her on the shoulder.

"Are you okay?" he asked. "I brought you lunch."

He handed her a sandwich. Lucy set it on the bed.

"I'm not hungry." she declared.

"Lucy…" Basil sighed. "Your friends'll be fine."

"It's not that, I know they will. We're going to go rescue them."

"Oh, great. Is this the return of the vendetta against that guy?"

"It's not the return." Lucy snapped. "I've hated him for the past six years. And it's not a vendetta."

"It is so." Basil argued.

"Fine." Lucy reached back and unclasped the locket she always wore under her shirt. "It looks so pretty, doesn't it? Not like it could be responsible for the deaths of five people, four of which were under six years old…"

"Lucy, why does that matter now?"

"It matters! Of course it matters! He killed my family! Because of some stupid piece of jewelry." Lucy sighed. "Stupid, dumb, obnoxious, _evil _piece of metal-"

"It's not the piece of metal's fault." Basil muttered, realized three seconds later that was a mistake. Lucy whirled around, her eyes narrowed into the death glare that no one could withstand.

"Oh, so is it my fault?" Lucy snarled. She grabbed the sleeve of her uniform and pushed it up, exposing the scars on her arm, letters that read MURDERER. "Was he right? Did I kill my family because I had power and I didn't want to let it go? OR WAS IT BECAUSE THE STUPID THING WOULDN'T LET ME GO?!"

She hurled the locket at her computer, shattering the screen. Lucy sank back on her bed, looking more tired than she had before.

"Leave me alone." she said. "Please."

It was the please that got to him. Basil stood up and headed for the door.

"You're not the same girl that I saved from him, aren't you?" he asked quietly.

"No." Lucy said, stroking the blond streak in her hair. "%^O# if I know what I am now, but I'm not her, that's for sure."


	13. We talk chicken

Chapter… Mercedes

We talk chicken

"You have a hornet in your pants about something." Franz said to Nigel.

"HORNET?" I yelled, jumping up from the floor and whipping around. "WHERE?!"

"_There is no hornet._" Nigel said testily. "It's _bee in your bonnet._ And I'm trying to figure out how to get out of here."

"Can we all just calm down a little?" Sophie begged.

"Fine." Nigel snapped. "Why did the chicken cross the road?"

"There's a chicken?" I asked, confused. "I thought there was a hornet."

"Perhaps the chicken ate the hornet." Franz suggested.

"THERE IS NO CHICKEN!" Nigel yelled. "It's a _metaphorical _chicken."

"What's a metaphorical chicken?" Franz asked.

"It's a chicken that eats mealworms." I explained.

"Why mealworms?" he questioned.

"It's a metaphor in the larvae stage." I said.

"Uh… I think that's a beetle." Sophie corrected.

"There is a beetle?" Franz said. "I thought it was a hornet."

"THERE IS NO HORNET!" Nigel yelled.

"You guys are a bunch of idiots." Shelby muttered.

###

"WHO'S IDEA WAS IT TO LET NATALYA DRIVE?" Cherry yelled.

"MINE!" said Raven, screeching around a corner.

"DIDN'T YOU DRIVE LIKE THIS WHEN YOU WERE TWELVE?" Princess asked.

"YES!" said Raven.

"WHO TAUGHT YOU, A PSCHOPATH?" Cherry yelled.

"NO, I DID."

"That explains a LOT." Princess muttered.

The car stopped. Raven, totally unaffected by her epic lack of driving skills, climbed out.

"This is the right address, right?" Cherry asked anxiously. She was not eager to have her friend behind the wheel again.

"Yeah." Raven said quietly.

"Is something wrong?" Princess asked, staggering out of the car.

"It looks like… where he died." Raven said. "Or 'died'. Or something."

"He?" Princess asked, rubbing her forehead.

"Mark." Cherry said.

"Raven… this place doesn't have anything to do with that. Mark doesn't know this place exists. It's not like he's going to walk out that door." Princess declared, pointing at the main entrance.

The door swung open.

Raven made a sound like a mouse being stepped on and grabbed Cherrt for support as Mark walked through the door.


	14. Lucy makes a questionableplan

"We're going to steal a Shroud." Lucy announced, pushing Ben out of the way and standing in front of Otto with her hands on her hips.

"Uhh…" Otto said. "How?"

"You're going to distract them."

"You realize we're going to have detention for the rest of our lives if we do this." Ben pointed out, rubbing his arm where it had collided with the couch.

"Not if we save Vanessa and the others and kick the bad guy's butt, no." Lucy countered.

"So… let me get this straight." Otto said. "We're going to steal a Shroud- to rescue Vanessa- so we don't get detention for stealing the Shroud?"

Lucy nodded.

"Couldn't this whole situation be avoided if we didn't steal a-" Ben started, but Lucy cut him off with a death glare.

"All right." Ben put his hands up in surrender. "We're going to steal a Shroud."

###

"You're sure you saw them?" the girl asked. She had white hair streaked with blue pulled back in a ponytail, elfish features and large blue eyes that made her look older then she was.

"Yes." said the girl next to her.

"And you're sure they don't know you've escaped?"

"No."

"Don't you think they'd have cameras-"

"Madelynn, I just do, okay?"

They continued in silence for a moment. Then Madelynn spoke.

"So does my brother care more for this Vanessa girl… or you?"

"Me." the girl snapped. "Of course he does."

"Then why hasn't he come to rescue you?"

"Because he thinks I'm dead, okay? Why do you ask so many questions? Don't you already know all the answers?"

"Only some."

"Like what?"

"Like that you're wrong."

"Wrong about what?"

"I can't tell you."

"Then what was the point of bringing it up?"

"Well, you did ask." Madelynn said huffily.


	15. Raven acts like an idiot

Chapter Get A Clue

Raven acts like an idiot, I act like even more of an idiot, and Lucy acts like… Lucy (i.e. an idiot- OWWW! OQWWW! IM SORRY!)

"I'M NOT HERE!" Raven yelled, diving to the ground and covering her head with her arms.

"Ra...ven?" Mark said, looking at her like she was from another planet.

"Hi." Raven tried to look up, but instead managed to scrape her chin on the pavement.

"She's not here." Princess said coolly, standing in front of Raven and putting her hands on her hips.

"I need to talk with her. For just a moment." Mark peered around Princess, and his eyes met Raven's. She stood up.

"What?" Her voice was cold.

"Hi." Mark said awkwardly.

"I already said that." Raven pointed out.

"I'm responding." Mark said.

"Oh." Raven thought furiously for something mildly intelligent to say. "Umm… I like your… cheesy bread."

"I like yours too." He smiled, and for a second she thought he was making fun of her. Then he said "I should have let you die."

"Ex-cuse me?" Raven said, taking a step back.

"I should have let Furan kill you. Then you would be dead and I never would have hurt you."

"That's nice." Raven backed up more. "Um… I have to go…"

"I'm sorry." Mark said. Then he turned and was gone.

"Um…" Princess looked at Raven. "Did he just… vanish?"

"Mm-hmm." Raven was staring dreamily at the spot where he had been standing. "He does that a lot."

"Good to know." Cherry muttered. "So now what?"

"We go kick these stupid guys butts, of course." Raven said.

"O-kayyy." said Princess.

"Does anyone else think Natalya's acting weird, or is it just me?" Cherry asked.

"No." Raven said, shaking her head like she was trying to clear it. "Sorry. I need to focus."

"Yes!" Princess smiled. "Here. Focus on this. After this excursion, I'll get you a half-dozen chocolate doughnuts."

"Focusing!" Raven yelled, running towards the door.

"She really hasn't changed a bit." Cherry muttered.


	16. We meet an old friendenemy

The door opened.

"Wooooo!" I yelled. "I KNEW MaKenzie was lying when she said I didn't have psychic powers!" I ran forward and smack into Laura.

Let me run that by you again- I RAN SMACK INTO LAURA.

_WHY IS LAURA HERE?_ My brain screamed. But all my mouth could manage was a simple "What huh?"

Laura looked at me like I was a piece of garbage.

"Nice to see you too, Nessa." she said coldly.

"No one has the right to call me that but Raven." I muttered. "And Otto, should he desire to do so."

"I don't see why he would." Laura snarled. "You have no chance, little girl."

Little girl? I tried to think of some epic comeback, couldn't this of anything, and snarled "Jerk.", then stalked off to the corner, where I attempted to sit on Franz.

"OW!" yelled Franz. "I AM NOT BEING A COT!"

"Sorry." I said, and sat huffily on the floor instead. I must say, Franz was more comfortable.

I saw another girl, the same age as Laura enter. She looked… oddly familiar, though I'd never seen her before. I only knew one kid with white hair and that was Otto.

"We must escape." The girl said. Her voice was breathy, with an accent I couldn't place.

"I kind of figured that out." Shelby said. Then- "Laura!" She ran forward and hugged her friend.

"How are you still alive?" Franz asked.

"I'll tell you later." said Laura. She looked thinner then I remembered, and her eyes had gained a haunted look. It reminded me of someone else… Raven! It was the same look Raven got whenever she talked about her childhood. Huh.

"Where are we?" Sophie asked softly.

"Somewhere bad." the girl said. "My name's Madelynn."

"Madelynn what?" I said.

"Madelynn Ottolyssa Lord." she said.

"That's a strange name." I observed.

"Not where I live." Madelynn said mysteriously.

"How do we know we can trust you?" Nigel said.

Madelynn smiled for the first time, and she looked even more familiar.

"You don't." she said.


	17. We steal a Shroud

Chapter AHHHHGGG!

We steal a Shroud and escape from the ship.

It's not a ship, Vanessa.

Stow it, Thingy.

Lucy turned to the hangar door and gripped her locket. Otto peeked nervously around behind her.

"Your eyes are supposed to be shut." Lucy hissed.

"But-"

"SHUT!" Lucy yelled in a whisper. (Does that make sense?)

Otto shut his eyes.

Lucy pressed the palm of her other hand against the door. She whispered something and it crumbled into ash. She then popped the pin on the flash-bang grenade she'd borrowed, hurled it into the hangar, screwed her eyes shut and jammed her fingers in her ears. A few moments later, she was pulling Otto across the hangar.

"The others?"

"Fo-ll-ow-ing!" Otto yelled (getting dragged by Lucy was a very bumpy process)

"Good!" Lucy darted up the loading ramp of one of the Shrouds. Someone fired a Sleeper towards her, hitting Otto. She dragged him inside. Seconds later, Ben, Gabby and Wing entered.

"Ben." Lucy said, pounding the controls to shut the door. She threw him her blackbox. "Get the ^&)$ thingy open."

"The- what?"

Lucy ran towards the cockpit, gesturing vaguely at the ceiling. "THE THINGY! THE BIG ONE!"

"That's not much to go on." Ben muttered.

"I think… she means the top of the volcano." Otto yawned and followed Lucy.

"Ah." said Ben.

They started going up.

"BEN!" Lucy yelled. "THIIIIIIINGGGGGY!"

"Calm down, I'm doing it…"

It slid open.

"HANG ON!" Lucy yelled. There was a loud scraping sound, and then they were up into the sky.

Otto watched Lucy scan the controls, then start randomly pressing buttons.

"Lucy…" he said as something occurred to him. "Do you know how to _fly _a Shroud?"

"Nope." Lucy said matter-of-factly.

"Do you know where we're going?"

"Nope."

"Do you have anything reassuring to say AT ALL?"

"Nope."

"This is going to be interesting." Otto muttered.


	18. The TV is in French

"I'm tired." I complained.

"That's nice." Madelynn said distractedly. "Here we go."

We had spent a few minutes wandering around… wherever we were. Whoever lived here had bad design taste- lots of gray cement halls. And not a single vending machine! Can you believe it?

Anyway, Madelynn opened yet another door(there were also a lot of doors with no signs, which was annoying.) and lead us inside into what looked kind of like a hotel room. There was a big bed in the corner, a couch, a mini kitchen and… A REALLY BIG TV!

I ran over to it but Laura grabbed my arm. Her grip was a lot stronger then I remembered. "Focus." she said. "We need to plan, not watch TV."

"I'm good with watching TV." Shelby said, turning it on. Laura didn't stop her. HOW UNFAIR IS THAT?

There was just one problem- the TV was in French.

"WHATTT?" Shelby glared at the TV.

Madelynn turned it off. "Like Miss. Brand said, we must focus. I need to find a way to smuggle you out of here before Furan discovers you're gone."

"Foo? Who's that guy?"

"Not important. He's not nice." Madelynn rubbed her forearm. "Which means we have ten minutes. I think-"

"That's it!" I yelled. "_That's _who you look like! Otto!"

"Who is Otto?" Madelynn asked.

"Oh, greeeeat." Shelby muttered.

"He's this guy who's fourteen and has white hair and blue eyes and is really, really cute, and he's really smart, and he wears blue pajamas, and he doesn't like moths, or spaghetti with red sauce, and he used to be Laura's boyfriend but he kissed be once and he likes Coke better then Pepsi. Oh, and his toothbrush is green and he keeps it on the left drawer in his desk." I said absentmindedly.

There was silence for a moment.

"Stal-ker." Shebly muttered.


	19. Raven and her friends ah, you'll see

Chapter WILL RAVEN PLEASE GET A CLUE ABOUT MY DAD?

Raven and her friends act like ninjas.

They are ninjas.

They're ninja _assassins. _I'm pretty sure there's a difference.

Raven was confused.

She wasn't sure if she was angry at Mark, or happy he was alive, or annoyed at him for not telling her he was alive… heck, she wasn't even sure if she was still in love with him anymore.

_That's not true. _she realized as she thought that. She fingered the ring.

"Hey, are you gonna stand there all day?" Cherry hissed. "Think _doughnuts._"

"And kicking Furan's butt." Princess added.

"I'm speaking her language." Cherry retorted. "_Douggggggghnuts…_"

"Both of you, shush." ordered Raven.

They were standing in what looked like a pretty ordinary lobby in an office building.

"'Lily, did your research tell you what floor it's on?" Raven asked.

"Research?" Princess said. "I just grabbed a bunch of stuff and shoved into Cherry's car."

"Well, I was following you." Raven said. "Cherry?"

"Someday when you action people rush off and run ill-informed into a situation, and I won't be there to save you, you are not allowed to haunt me." Cherry said with a sigh, pulling out her cell phone.

"I promise." Raven said.

"I might haunt you anyway." Princess said. "For you giving me a bunch of crud when I married your brother."

"You deserved it, for marrying my brother." Cherry muttered. "Okay, fifth floor."

"Good, we can escape out the windows." Raven noted.

Princess looked at her like she was nuts.

"Natalya, wouldn't that sort of kill us?"

"I swear it's in her job description." Cherry muttered. "Falling out of things and blowing things up."

"I _do _do that a lot, don't I?" Raven said slowly. "Huh."


	20. An interesting conversation

The intruder stood in front of Furan, their hands bound behind their back. Whoever they were, their face was covered with a red hooded cloak. Something in a black case was strung over their back… a violin case…

"Zoey." Furan said, his heart sinking. "What are you doing here?"

He drew back her hood, revealing the face of a girl about fourteen, her reddish brown hair pulled into a bun. She stared defiantly up at him.

"I just wanted to visit family." she said calmly. She turned to the guards surrounding them, and her voice became more sing-song-y. "This is a private matter. Leave."

They did so. Furan glared at Zoey.

"That was not necessary." he snapped.

"I don't trust you like I used to, I'm afraid." Zoey said. "Now will you get these ridiculous things off my wrists? They pinch something awful."

Furan removed the restraints. "Why couldn't you have just come, instead of getting caught?" he asked.

"That's what I was _trying_ to do." Zoey rubbed her wrists. Her accent was more subtle then Furan's, but it was there, and it matched his perfectly. "But those guys refused."

"Why are you here?" he asked. "Really."

"I just wanted to know," Zoey said, her voice becoming a little sharper. "_why?_"

"Why what?" Furan said.

"Why are you working for this guy and kidnapping people again?" Zoey hissed. "I thought you'd learned your lesson."

"There was no need to hit me that hard." Furan said resentfully. "I nearly fell off the building."

"That was the point." Zoey hissed. "Besides, if I hadn't hit you, you would have killed her, and now where would we be?"

"Happy."

Zoey rolled her eyes. "So is that what you think? All this is somehow going to fix everything? Well, you're dead wrong, brother."

"You should leave now." Furan said. He sounded a little angry. "Or I'll turn you over to Anastasia. You know she'd like that."

"Yes, she's very eager to kill me, blah blah whatever." Zoey waved a dismissive hand. "We never did get along. Back to my point-"

"You're not convincing me to switch sides, if that's what you're attempting."

"I'm not _that_ stupid. I just wanted to let you know what you've been doing. What you're still doing. You're taking children and making them be something they're not. Now let's think," Zoey's voice became suddenly angry. "_who else do we know that does that? That did that to two people standing in this room?_"

"I haven't been-"

"Right, yeah, it's not exactly the same thing as experimenting on children. But it's close enough to make me want to do this." She slapped him across the face.

"What was that for?" Furan hissed.

"Wake. Up." Zoey snarled. Then she was gone.


	21. We are not in space

Chapter Cheeseballs

We meet Raven's elementary school principal.

He's not her… aggg, never mind. You're hopeless.

Otto was beginning to seriously wonder why he'd agreed to this plan. Lucy clearly had no idea how to fly a Shroud, and they had nearly crashed at least four times.

"Where are we going?" Ben yelled.

"Well…" Lucy paused. "I suppose if we keep going in one direction, we'll eventually land… somewhere."

"But we could be headed for Antarctica!" Ben spluttered.

"Let's hope we're not going that way, then." Lucy replied. "And why are you yelling?"

"Because in movies, when people are in a helicopter, they always yell!" Ben yelled.

"_We're not in a helicopter, you dolt._" Lucy hissed. "Aside from your stupid comments, it's totally silent in here."

There was complete silence for a moment.

"I thought you couldn't scream in space?" Otto noted somewhat randomly.

"You… can't." Lucy said, looking at him like he was insane.

"We're not in space, though." Ben said, sounding more panicked by the second. "Right?"

###

"Right." said Raven. "We go up to the fifth floor… and 'Lily causes some kind of distraction… and we all look around and see if we can find something."

"Brilliant plan." Princess said sarcastically.

"Do you have a better one?" Raven hissed.

"Where's Shira when you need her?!" Princess moaned.

"She's been dead for sixteen years, you should have figured out how to plan for yourself by now." Cherry said sternly.

"Ug, shut up already." Princess muttered.

"Be nice." Raven scolded.

They got into the elevator.

"You would think they would notice us on the security cameras or something." Princess noted. "They're just going to let us go up?"

That was when the elevator started to fall.


	22. We meet Raven's principal

"I am not!" I spluttered.

"So young, and already obsessing over boys..." Shelby sighed, trying(and failing) to hold back her grin.

"I do not 'obsess'!" I yelled.

"If staring at the wall in half your classes with a dreamy expression on your face, and doodling 'Vanessa Malpense' all over your notebook isn't obsessing, I don't know what is." Shelby triumphantly.

"I do NOT!" I screeched. "And how'd you know about my notebook anyway, I don't sit next to you. I sit next to- FRANZ!"

"She is bribing me with a chocolate bar." Franz said. "I am not being able to resist."

"Please hold." I grumbled. I got up, and sat behind the couch with my head in my hands.

I didn't get too long to pout, because about a minute later I heard "Madelynn, Miss Brand… what have we here?"

I popped up from behind the couch and said the first thing that popped into my head… which was "Why did the chicken cross the road?"

The man in the doorway rolled his eyes… er, eye, one of them was sealed shut with a star-shaped pattern of scars around it. "To destroy something… I don't know, why does it matter?"

Out of the corner of my eye, I could see Madelynn, frozen with fear, and Laura, who was fervently shaking her head. Well, if Laura thought it was a bad idea, it was probably a good one, so I plowed on.

"WRONG!" I sang. "To get to the other side! Why did the frog cross the road?"

"To get to the- what are you doing?"

""WRONG!" I yelled. "Because he strapped himself to the chicken! Why did the-"

"ENOUGH!" he yelled. "You're Raven's brat, aren't you? You are just as… stubborn… and annoying… and…"

He looked like he was out of adjectives, so I helped him out by adding "Awesome? And what are you, her elementary school principal?"

"No-"

"Middle school?"

"You are impossible! STOP-TALKING!" He glared at all of us. "I am Pietor Furan."

"I'm Vanessa, nice to meet you." I said, offering my hand. I could resist adding "High school?"

"I SAID SHUT UP!" He looked at Sophie. "You. Come with me."

She followed him out of the room. Furan slammed the door behind them.

"What is he gonna do, take away her sense of humor?" I growled. "Geez."

"No-" Laura started, but she was cut off by Sophie's scream.


	23. Furan and Sophie become BFFs

"What- what's going on?" I spluttered.  
"He's torturing her." Laura said flatly. She touched her side. Madelynn did the same with her arm.  
"Dude, new rule. Next time a psychopath pops up, tell me, 'kay?" I said.  
Madelynn nodded. She was still rubbing her arm.  
"And why do you keep doing that?" I said.  
Madelynn rolled up her sleeve. Burned into her arm were the numbers 0010.  
"I tried to escape. To look for my brother. So he gave me… yeah." She sighed.

"How long have you lived here?" I asked.

"Fourteen years." Madelynn said quietly, staring off into space like she could see something there.

"So… since you were born? Do your parents live here too?"

"No." she said. "And I haven't got parents."

"Their dead?"

"No. I haven't got any."

"O-kay…" I said. I'd figure that out later. "What about you?" I asked Laura.  
"My side hurts whenever I see an idiot." she snapped.  
"Why you-"  
Shelby had to hold me back. "She didn't mean you." she explained. "She meant Furan."  
Why is everybody oblivious to our mutual hatred of each other? Especially Otto. I mean, really. How clueless can you get?

"Why did he pick on Sophie?" I asked. "I mean, she's what, eleven?"

The door opened again. Once again, I said the first thing that popped into my head.

"You deserve to have your pants lit on fire!" I yelled.

"Been there, done that." Furan said tiredly. He tossed Sophie's limp body onto the couch and said "I think I can trust you to stay here until I need you?"

We were silent.

"I thought so." he said triumphantly. "And don't think you're getting off the hook, Miss Lord. Right now, your abilities are the only thing keeping you alive."

He slammed the door. I ran for it but… it disappeared. I kicked it, which did absolutely nothing, and sat down in front of it.

"Help me with Sophie." Laura ordered. For once, I didn't object.

I went over to Sophie and helped Laura and Shelby carry her on to the bed. The left side of her body was covered with blood and her eyes were closed, but she was breathing.

"What's wrong with her?" Shelby asked.

"I don't know…" I said. I took off my boot.

"What are you doing?" Laura asked suspiciously.

"I don't just keep snacks and dangerous pointy objects in here." I said. "And Raven taught me… stuff." I pulled out a roll of bandages out, then antiseptic. We cleaned off most of Sophie's side, and now we saw the problem. There was a huge gash running down her side.

"Okay, this is probably going to sting." I warned her. I poured antiseptic on it, and Sophie started crying. Laura held her hand. Then she looked up, startled.

"Vanessa…" she said.

"Later." I said, pulling out a needle and thread.

"That technically _is _a dangerous pointy object." Shelby pointed out.

After putting in a couple of jagged stitches, I wrapped Sophie's wound up, than helped her out of her bloodstained shirt and into my jacket. She curled up against Shelby and jammed her other hand into her mouth, like she was trying not to cry out.

"Is there anything else?" I asked.

"Vanessa!" Laura hissed. She held up Sophie's hand. Or rather, what was left of it. Two fingers were gone now.

"I don't like that guy much." Sophie said in an extremely quiet voice.

"Yeah, no kidding." I muttered.


	24. I am bored

Chapter Chicken Sauce

I am too bored to come up with a cool and sarcastic title for this chapter.

Raven gave herself a split second to freak out, then another to make a plan. It was kind of a sucky plan, but she didn't really care as long as it worked. She pulled one of her swords out of its sheath, switched it to the sharpest setting, and jammed it into the wall of the elevator. Their decent stopped.

"Cherry." Raven said tersely. "Other sword."

Cherry drew it.

"Cut out a square." Raven ordered. "As close to the top as you can get."

Cherry did so, and pushed the panel of metal out.

"Climb up to the top." Raven said.

"Both of us?" Princess asked nervously.

"Yes." Raven said. She didn't know long the sword was going to hold. "Fast. Now."

Cherry climbed out quickly. Princess chewed her lip.

"It's the stupid zip line all over again." She muttered.

"I don't have a sock puppet for you this time, 'Lil." Raven grunted.

"I hate heights." Princess whimpered. "And I miss Steve."

"You miss the sock I drew on with a Sharpie?" Raven said.

"As stupid as it sounds when you put it that way, yes." Princess muttered, and started to climb.

"Hurry." Raven yelled. "I can't hold this stupid thing for much longer!"

"Steve." Princess muttered to herself as she climbed the side. "Think about Steve. Be cool."

She looked down.

"And whatever you do, don't do that." she added as her stomach swooped.

She pulled herself up onto the top of the elevator carriage. Cherry was fiddling with her phone again.

"Be cool." Princess whispered. "Steve. Steve. Steve."

"Are you insane?" Cherry said calmly.

"What are you doing?" Princess asked.

"Trying to get the doors-"

The doors to the elevator, twenty feet up, opened.

"Okay." Cherry said.

"Where'd you learn to do that?"

"My brother's only about ninety percent idiot." Cherry shrugged. "The other ten percent is surprisingly intelligent."

"Ah." Princess said.

"Use your grappler and get up there." Cherry ordered. "I'll follow you."

"What about Natalya?"

"She'll be fine."

Princess forced herself not to think and fired her grappler. She hated it. It was far too much like a zip lin-

She flew out the door and crash landed face-first onto the rug. Ow. That hurt.

A few seconds later Cherry was sitting next to her, her usually pink cheeks ashen.

"Where's Natalya?!" Princess demanded.

There was the sound of huge crash.

Princess started to cry.


	25. Raven is not a waffle

Someone put their arms around Princess. "Hi, 'Lily." A quiet voice said. "What's wrong?"

"Natalya… Natalya…" Princess choked out.

"Dude, Tally's right there." Jacob said.

She looked.

Raven was sitting in front of Cherry. She glared at Jacob. He looked so gorgeous… tousled dark hair, sea green eyes, tall, muscular frame…

Unfortunately, this image was ruined the instant he opened his mouth.

"Hey, Tally." Jacob said with a smirk.

Raven strengthened the force of her glare.

"My name is not Tally." she hissed. "Or Nat, or Natalie, or Natalia, or Natty, or Fruitcake, or Lumberjack Fred, or Bobby Joe, or Sam the Delivery Guy, or Murderer of Insurance Salesmen, or Cheesebucket, or Fuzzbucket, or Everyone Loves Matresses, or Steve, or Shut Up, or Banana Job, or Waffle. Or Venny or Ray or any other weird nickname you've invented. Got it?"

Jacob considered a moment. "Nice job on remembering all those, Ray-ray."

"OR THAT!" Raven yelled.

"Could you two fight later?" said a cool voice from behind them. Raven whipped around and saw Ally and Abby. Princess choked back a sob.

Raven stood up, and tightened her hold on her remaining katana. "Go, you two." she hissed to Cherry and Princess. "We can handle this."

"Yes, Tally has it all under control." Jacob said happily.

Raven gritted her teeth. "Jacob. Shut. Up."

"Whatever you say, Tally."

Raven ignored him as Ally drew a sword from her belt. She aimed a stroke at Raven's head, but Raven countered it easily.

She saw Cherry and Princess run for the stairs.

"You take care of this," Ally hissed to her twin, before racing after them.

Abby took Ally's place. Jacob ran off after his sister and wife.

Raven tried not to show it, but she was getting tired. It had been difficult to hold the elevator in place, and she hadn't had much sleep the night before, because of Max. So it wasn't long before Abby was too quick for her, the point of her sword diving into Raven's arm. Raven screamed. It hurt- much, much worse than it should have. She had to switch arms.

_Why did Jacob have to go? He's such a moron. _

Her leg this time. Raven staggered, getting in a blow to Abby's arm before it was too much and she collapsed. Abby bent over her.

"Guess what?" she hissed. "It looks like I payed better attention to Furan then you did."

Raven groaned. Then she whipped a thin knife from her boot and stabbed Abby under her heart.

"Yeah." Raven said, standing up as Abby fell. "But I pay attention to my daughter."


	26. The trouble with Zoey

Chapter SOAJEGK"JGODOPIWIOQEJG uqoF)_} J  
The trouble with Zoey

**Forty years previously… **

_"I want a pony." Zoey said, swirling her noodles around her plate.  
"That's nice." Pietor said distractedly. He was reading a very interesting book and didn't really have time for kindergarten nuttiness.  
"Aliya Chmokova's auntie has a pony, and she gets to ride it on weekends." Zoey put a forkful of noodle in her mouth then spat it out. "It's SPICY! You know I don't like spicy, Ana!"_

"_Shut up, brat." Anastasia growled._

"_What was that?" Pietor said. _

"_I'm sorry, Zoey." Anastasia muttered. _

"_So can I have a pony?" _

"_No." Pietor said, returning to his book. _

"_Why not? I'll feed it and water it every day-"_

"_You don't water a pony." Anastasia snapped. _

"_You do so." Zoey stuck out her tongue._

"_No, you don't!" Anastasia clenched her fingers around her butter knife so hard her knuckles turned white. "God, how freakin' stupid can you get?"_

"_Piiiiiiiiiiiie-torrrrrrrrrrr…" Zoey whined. "Annnnnnastasiaaaaaaaa's being meaaaaaaaaaan…"_

"_Be nice to Zoey, Ana." _

"_See?" Zoey poked Anastasia. "He likes me better."_

_Anastasia picked up the butter knife and slashed it down Zoey's face. _

_Zoey screamed and started sobbing. Pietor looked up. _

"_What did you do this time?" he hissed, looking from the bloody butter knife to Anastasia's attempt to look innocent, to Zoey, who jumped out of her chair and ran out the door. _

"_Great." said Pietor. "Can't you two just get along for four seconds?"_

"_That was five." Anastasia pointed out. _

"_Don't be rude to me." Pietor hissed, picking up the butter knife._

"_Geez, sorr-ee." Anastasia stomped up the stairs and slammed the door to her room. _

_Pietor ran out into the backyard. "Zoey?" he called. _

"_I hate her!" yelled someone above his head. _

_Pietor looked up. Zoey was sixty feet off the ground, perched on a slender branch at the very top of the biggest tree in their yard. _

"_Zo… can you come down now, please?" Pietor said carefully. _

"_Sure!" Zoey grinned. "Watch this!" And she jumped. _

_Pietor couldn't move as his four-year-old sister hurtled towards the ground- and landed on her feet, totally unhurt._

"_Bet she couldn't do that." Zoey said with a satisfied smirk. _

"_Zoey- you-" _

"_I did it from two-hun-der-ed once." Zoey grinned. _

"_Your face…" There was blood all over it, but when he wiped it away, there was no cut. Zoey was totally fine. _

"_Hey, Ana!" Zoey yelled. _

"_Oh, no, Zoey, don't-"_

_Anastasia stuck her face out the window. "What do you want, squirt?" she snarled. _

"_Why don't you come down here with us?" Zoey said, her voice becoming more sing-song. _

_Anastasia got a strange look in her eyes. Then she jumped out the window. She screamed as she fell, then slammed into the ground, her legs at a strange angle._

_Zoey grinned. _

"_Zoey?" Pietor said slowly. "What… did … you… do?"_

"If she had aged normally, she'd be older then Natalya by now." Furan muttered. He sat down on his bed. "But she still looks sixteen…"

"Why are you talking to yourself?"

He looked up and saw Anastasia in the doorway.

"Just thinking about stuff." Furan said. "You know. Stuff."

"Guess who I caught?" Anastasia shifted, and Furan saw she was holding a knife to the throat of a small figure…

"Put me DOWN!" Zoey yelled. There was a cut down the side of her face, and another across her side. She looked like she'd been crying. "Or I'll tell everyone who you liked in the seventh grade!"

Anastasia colored a little, then dug in harder with the knife. Zoey cried out.

Anastasia drew a sword from her belt, then tossed it to Furan. "Care to do the honors?"

"No!" Zoey yelled. She may have looked older, but she still had the same eyes, and right now they were wide with fear. Then they narrowed. "Hey… ain't that Shaesta's sword? I KNEW it wasn't under the couch!"

Furan stepped closer.

"You wouldn't really, Pietor?" Zoey whimpered, starting to slip into her other voice, the one she could control people with.

"Don't you dare use your influence on him, you freak." Anastasia stabbed into Zoey's shoulder. "Go on, what're you waiting for?"

"No!" Zoey screamed. "No- PLEASE!"

The sword flashed. Zoey crumpled to the floor. Anastasia kicked her, and she rolled towards Pietor.

"Traitor." Zoey whispered. Then she was still. s


	27. Raven lives up to her job description

Chapter I love Ponies

You have finally gone insane.

Thank you.

Raven kicks serious butt, then lives up to her job description.

Raven made it up ten stairs before she ran smack into Jacob, who was running down the stairs. They tumbled back to the bottom and landed in a heap.

"Well, at least you didn't fall on my head this time." Jacob grumbled. "That bike helmet doesn't fit anymore."

"Oh, is _that_ what that was about?" Raven got up and started again. _Ow. Ow. Ow. _ "I thought you were just being strange."

"I am the king of strange." Jacob followed her. "Are you okay? Do you want me to return the favor and remove your leg?"

He knew a second after he said it he shouldn't have. Raven went very pale.

"Sorry." She muttered, then stumbled. She threw out her hands to break her fall, the screamed at her arms hit the stairs.

"Are you _sure _you're okay?" Jacob said, offering her his arm.

"No. I'm good." _Kind of. _

It took them ten minutes to get to the roof. It would have been faster if Raven hadn't been falling every ten feet, but Jacob didn't run ahead.

The sight that greeted them was not good.

Princess was slumped on the ground, her chest rising and falling slightly. Cherry was pinned against the chimney-

Why do they have a chimney if there's no fireplace?

Just tell the story, Vanessa.

Anyway, chimney, Ally standing over her with her sword raised.

Raven ran towards her, then tripped and slammed into the roof. Ally whirled around and tried to bring down her sword on Raven's neck, but Jacob was there, blocking her. Raven got up.

"Help Aida Lily!" she ordered Cherry, and ran to help Jacob. He seemed to be doing an okay job, but he wouldn't be winning any time soon. Raven attempted to stab Ally in the back, but Ally whipped around and thrust her sword into Raven's side. She cried out.

Out of the corner of her vision, she saw someone come towards them. Mark. _Why the heck is he- whatever. _

Ally smiled when she caught sight of him. She kicked Raven in the spot she'd been wounded earlier. Raven stumbled, off-balance. Everything was starting to tilt back and forth. Her sword slipped from her hand.

"Hey, Mark!" Ally yelled. "Watch this!"

She slashed towards Raven. Raven did the only thing she could think of- she stepped backward.

Off the roof and into thin air.

Then someone grabbed her hand. Raven looked up. It was Mark. He looked at her sadly.

"It's better this way." he said softly.

Then he let go.


	28. Anna, Stacy, and a greenhouse

Raven tried to fire her grappler, but she couldn't get it to attach to anything.

_I really am going to die this time… and what's going to happen to Max? He's only a baby. No. No, no, no, no, no!_

"Natalya!" yelled someone. It was Jacob and she knew he was being serious because he was using her real name. "Grab my hand!"

She did, and her descent stopped. They swung forward.

"THAT'S A WALL!" Raven screamed.

The impact hurt a lot, and there was something warm in her eyes now. She tried to wipe it away, but her arm seemed so heavy…

###

Cherry hauled her brother and Raven up onto the roof.

"Thanks." Jacob said. "What happened to Ally?"

Cherry mimed punching someone.

"Mark?"

"Ran off back to his daddy, I'd expect." Cherry rolled her eyes, then became serious. "You should go see Aida Lily. She… she's a bad way."

She watched as Jacob ran over to her fallen friend, and started talking with her. Cherry looked down at Raven.

"You just had to fall off the flippin' building, didn't you." She sighed. "Geez."

Raven moaned.

Jacob came back over to her.

"Princess?" Cherry asked.

He shook his head.

Cherry swore, and wiped her eyes. "And then there were three." She whispered.

Together, they carried Raven down the fire escape, and into the car. Jacob sat in the backseat with Raven's head in his lap, and Cherry drove, trying not to think about how depressing her life was. She couldn't remember their parents very well- she had been taken at age four. Virtually all she knew was the Glass-

_You don't think about that. Not now, not ever. _

They reached Raven's apartment pretty quickly. Cherry picked the lock. They found a note taped to the fridge, apparently from Max's babysitter that said they'd gone to the park.

"She doesn't know." Cherry said. "About Max."

"I haven't told anyone." Jacob said.

"Oh, so I don't count now?"

"I didn't say that."

"Did so."

"Did not."

"Shut up." moaned Raven. They were both instantly quiet, each thinking _How much did she hear? _

"Someone get me coffee." Raven sat up, and looked around. She was sitting on her couch, and she had a splitting headache. "LOTS of coffee."

###

We discovered that there was a refrigerator in the room we were now staying in, and that it had snacks in it. This pretty much went down well with everyone, except Sophie, who was feverish and unconscious again.

"I don't know what's going on." Laura said. (Actually, the rest of this chapter is translated, because all our mouths were packed to the breaking point and you couldn't understand us.)

"What happened to you? How'd you end up here?" I asked.

"Well… basically I got kidnapped." Laura said.

"But Ben's sister said you died." Nigel said, confused.

"I got poisoned." Laura said. "The ninja sword thingy. You know. And so… I dunno, it must have just looked like I died, when I was really only knocked out."

"Raven knew." I said, before I could think about it.

"What do you mean?" Shelby asked.

"She was talking to Nero. About Futan… Foreman… that guy." I shrugged. "And she said something about a greenhouse. And two people named Anna and Stacy."

"O…kay." Laura swallowed. "I haven't heard anything about a greenhouse… I've just been doing computer stuff."

"What kind of computer stuff?" I asked.

"I dunno. _I _don't even get it." She shrugged.

"That's not good." Shelby muttered.


	29. Raven wierds Jacob out

Chapter Lollipop

We crash and burn

When Raven woke up the next morning, her entire body ached. She looked outside and realized it was still dark. But she wasn't going back to sleep. If she did, she'd just have more nightmares about Vanessa…

Max was still asleep, but she picked him up and carried him into the living room. She couldn't stand to be alone right now, but she didn't want to wake up Rubee and Jacob. She sat on the couch, trying not to think about Furan having Vanessa, and what that meant…

And then all of the sudden she was thinking about Mark. She'd seen him again, after she'd fought Ally. But her memories were fuzzy from her bonk on the head, and she didn't know what had happened… She knew it had something to do with her falling. Did he push her? No, that wasn't it. Did he try to save her? Yes… and then he let go.

Involuntarily, Raven started to cry.

"Don't do that." Jacob said, coming in and sitting next to her.

"Do what?"

"Cry."

"Why not? I'm human, aren't I?"

"Because it weirds me out."

"It 'weirds you out.'" Raven repeated.

"Yep." Jacob said.

"Oh-kayyyyy." Raven said slowly. She'd stopped crying now.

"Why were you, anyway?" Jacob asked.

"Mark." Raven said quietly.

"What'd he do _this _time?" Jacob said with a sigh.

"He let me fall." Raven said in a small voice.

"Oh." Jacob said. She looked like she was going to start crying again, so he said "Is he Max's father?"

"As far as I know, yes." Raven said. "But… as strange as it sounds, I don't actually know."

"You don't."

"Nope."

"What if-"

"HELLO!" yelled Cherry very loudly, startling both of them.

"Hi." Raven said.

"Hi." Jacob added, glaring at her.

When Cherry saw Max, Raven and Jacob all sitting together, something flashed in her eyes- anger, maybe. But then it was gone.

"Come on, Jacob." Cherry said slowly, like Jacob was an idiot. "Let's go make breakfast."

And with that, she dragged him off.

"You were gonna tell her, weren't you?" Cherry hissed once they were out of hearing range.

"Yeah-"

"You can't tell her that! She'll get mad at you! Even more mad then when you flew her underpants-"

"I get it."

"Or when you gave everyone a picture of her in a pink-"

"RUBEE, SHUT UP!"


	30. We crash and burn

"I SEE LAND!" Ben yelled.

"Great." Lucy said. Her hands were clenched so tight on the controls her knuckles where white. Not that that increased her piloting ability, or anything.

"Do you know how to _land_ a Shroud?" Otto asked.

"Crash it." Lucy said, her voice quivering.

"This was a really, really, bad idea." Otto muttered.

The next thing he knew, everything flipped sideways. Gabby screamed and grabbed his arm. There was what sounded like an explosion, and then everything went sideways again.

When he finally untangled himself from Wing, Gabby and Ben, Otto noticed a giant hole across from where he was. He slid through it, and found himself standing in a field. A moment later, the others joined him.

"Well, that was fun." Lucy muttered, inspecting her arm, which was all cut up.

"Shut your face." Ben snapped.

"Ex-cuse me?" Lucy hissed.

"Sorry." Ben shrugged. "I just felt like being rude to someone just now."

Lucy swatted Ben's shoulder.

"Anyone have any clue where we are?" Gabby said.

"No." said Wing.

"I think we broke it." Otto said, glancing at the remnants of the Shroud.

"Nero's gonna love that." Ben muttered.

"Right now, I really don't care." Lucy snapped. "Start walking, minions."

They obediently started off.

"Hey, did you just call us _minions_?" Ben asked.

Lucy shrugged.

"It's a comfort thing." she said.


	31. Lah de dah, I can't think of anything

Chapter Dinner with a side of Cheese

Our rescue begins, and something else ends.

Cherry

The first time I meant Vanessa Winters, I was six. It was night. I was sitting on the edge of my bed and wishing I wasn't hungry, but I was, and I couldn't do much about it. I'd been supposed to hit some little girl, even younger then I was. I'd refused. No dinner. For a week. And my cheek still hurt from where she'd slapped me.

A girl came up. She was older than me. Ten. Dark hair in perfect ringlets. Pretty, too. Big green eyes the color of highlighters, like Mark's. She sat next to me and pressed something into my hand. Something warm. It was a roll.

"I'm Vanessa." She said.

"Mark's sister?" I asked. We were talking really softly, cuz I didn't want to get in more trouble for not being asleep when I was supposed to.

"Yep." She said. "I just got here. What's your name?"

"Svetlana." I said. Because that was my name. Then, anyway.

She looked at me strange. "What's you're middle name?"

"Rubee." I told her.

"I like that better." Vanessa smiled.

"Why're you being nice to me if you're his helper?" I said bluntly.

Vanessa looked hurt.

"I wouldn't help him if I have a choice." She said.

"Were you taken too?"

She stopped talking, and stood up.

"I should go." She said, and left abruptly.

Ever since I'd met up with Raven yesterday, I kept thinking about her. Raven said she'd died saving her life. I wasn't too surprised. It just seemed like the kind of thing she would do.

It was because of Vanessa Winters I'd met Raven, and had escaped. I guess I owed her a lot.

Anyway.

Raven was in a bad mood at breakfast. I asked her why.

"All that trouble and we didn't get any information!" she yelled.

"Dude." Jacob said. "Did you really think I'd ditch you for no reason? I saw what floor Ally and Abby came from, took the stairs to there, and downloaded everything I could find onto this." He pulled a flashdrive from his pocket.

Raven snatched it and ran to the computer. My brother and I followed, breakfast forgotten.

It took her a little while, but she found the co-ordinates to where her daughter was. Then all the color drained from her face as she saw where it was.

"Oh, crap." Jacob muttered.

We were going back to the Glasshouse.


	32. Suckiness and the Circus

I had trouble sleeping, and my dreams didn't make much sense. I couldn't remember most of it, but I think Laura tried to feed me to a giant taco.

I really do _not _understand my brain.

Anyway, when I woke up, it was dark and I could sort of see someone moving around.

"Wuzzgoingon?" I mumbled.

Whoever it was quickly stopped. I stood up. I was sleeping on the couch.

"GAH!" yelled someone.

"Oops." I said, not very sorry. I'd accidentally stepped on Laura's face.

"Watch it." She hissed. She got up.

"You haven't got a giant taco hidden anywhere, have you?" I asked suspiciously.

"No…" Laura frowned at me. "So… are you and Otto going out?"

"Not yet."

"Have you kissed again?"

"Why do you care, jerkface?"

"Sorry." Laura muttered, and sat down.

"You are _so_ going down." I muttered.

"You guys?"

It was Shelby.

"Yeah?" I said. She was the one moving around.

"Turn on the light." Shelby ordered.

"Enchlaaaaadassssss…" Franz mumbled.

"What is with the Mexican food theme today?" Laura asked, switching on the light.

Shelby was sitting on the bed where Madelynn and Sophie were. Madelynn sat up, rubbing her eyes.

"What's going on?" she asked.

"It's MORNING!" I sang.

"Oh." Madeynn stood up, tripped over Nigel, and went flying into the couch. She sat up, dazed.

"As entertaining as that was, can you guys stop acting like we're part of the circus and get over here?" Shelby growled.

We made our way over. I noticed Shelby looked a little shaken up.

"I think… I think Sophie's dead." She said quietly.

"Has she got a pulse?" Laura asked.

"No." Shelby said.

"Oh." Laura seemed to shrink a little.

"CURSE THAT FULL RUN GUY!" I yelled.

"Ravioli…" muttered Franz.


	33. I AM A DOUGHNUT!

Chapter Flying Purple Nertz

We go down Backstory Lane.

About twenty minutes later, they reached a tiny little town. As soon as Lucy saw it, her face went very pale.

"I know where we are." She said. "And I know somewhere we can stay. It's just a quick bus ride from here."

"Great." Said Ben. "Cuz I'm freezing, it's getting dark, and it looks like it's gonna rain."

The minute he said that, huge drops started coming down.

Lucy led them to a bus stop. She seemed nervous, and kept darting glances over her shoulder.

"Where are we?" Gabby asked.

"It doesn't matter." Lucy said quickly.

There was no one on the bus, and five minutes later they were standing outside a little green house.

Lucy checked over her shoulder again.

"No one's following us." Ben growled. "Lucy, will you get a move on before we all die of pneumonia?"

"Quit being overly dramatic." Lucy ran across the yard to a large pile of rocks. She stuck her hand under one, then shrieked.

Otto hurried over. "What's wrong?" he asked.

"The-the key's under there." Lucy whimpered. "But… there's _spiders_…"

"Spiders?" Otto asked.

"Spiders..." Lucy jammed her fingers in her mouth. She looked like she was seconds away from losing it all together.

"Okay." Otto said. He stuck his hand under the rock, and pulled out a large silvery key.

"Thanks." Lucy inspected it for spiders. Finding none, she went back to the house and opened the door.

They entered the house. It looked dusty, like it hadn't been lived in for a few years. Lucy seemed to know her way around, though. She entered the living room and sat down on the couch, looking over her shoulder every few seconds.

"Where're the bedrooms?" Ben said. "I need a nap."

Lucy showed them. There were three, and one of them was filled with toys. Otto pointed to something on the door. It was a photo of a much younger Lucy with four small children sitting in front of the house.

"Did you used to live here?" he asked.

"This is my father's house." Lucy said quietly. "Or it was, anyway." She shrugged, then ducked into the second bedroom and shut the door very fast.

It hadn't been touched in the six years since she'd been here. There was the picture of her and Basil and her mom in front of the Chrysler building, the scarf Sofia had given her for her eleventh birthday, her diary…

She flopped down on the bed and was asleep in minutes. So she didn't see Gabby duck in quietly, look around, than take the blue journal off Lucy's desk.

Gabby went out into the living room. Otto was there.

"What's that?" he asked.

"I think it's her diary." Gabby said.

"Go on." Said Otto. "Open it."

Gabby hesitated, then did.


	34. Before

August 16th, 2008

I'm back home again. I get the feeling someone's watching me. I called Allegra on it, but she said she disabled the spy cam. She better have. Future G.L.O.V.E. leaders do NOT get spied on by their bratty little sisters. Maybe Basil knows something about it. I'll email him later and see.

The neighbors have their STUPID trailer parked in front of our house again. God, that is SO FREAKIN' ANNOYING! I bet that's illegal. Somehow.

When I'm queen of the world, I will blast all purple trailers into smithereens.

"What?" Otto asked.

"I'm just reading what it says…" Gabby protested.

August 20th, 2008

I'm sure someone's watching me. When I came back home from the pool today, I could tell someone had been through my stuff. And everyone was with me, so it can't be any of my brothers or Allegra.

DID SOMEONE FIND OUT WHAT ME AND BASIL DID?!

I doubt it. They would have hauled us off to jail by now if they had.

The Purple Trailer Patrol is still there. ONLY NOW THERE'S TWO! WHAT IS WRONG WITH THIS UNIVERSE!?

August 22nd, 2008

Something really nutty happened today-

Hang on, Dad's calling me.

LATER

Since I'm probably going to be dead tomorrow, I might as well right this down.

There's a man standing over my right now. His name is Furan. He's got a sister, who's off doing who knows what, probably terrorizing the others. They want my locket. They say they're going to kill my family if I don't.

I tried to tell them that I CAN'T TAKE IT OFF. IT WON'T LET ME. CUZ IT'S MAGIC! But they just ignored me and she kicked me in the stomach and called me something not very nice.

Now she's coming back. She has a knife and- she has Cecelio. Now she's yelling at me. She says she's going to kill him if I don't hand it over. I'm crying. I'm yelling I can't, I can't, they can try and take it but I can't give it away.

And now Cecelio's dead.

He's taking this away from ne now. He says they're going to break me. I-

August 23rd, 2008

I'm sitting on the couch with Basil and my family is dead. There's a woman standing by the window. She says her name is Raven. She looks a little unnerved. We're waiting for someone, our ride out of here. I want to get out of here. I'm holding a towel to my arm where Furan carved the word MURDERER into it. It hasn't stopped bleeding yet. He killed my family because of the stupid locket. I hate this stupid locket. Why me? What did I do?

Raven came flying in and saved me. She was pretty awesome. But it wouldn't have been enough if Basil hadn't gotten the woman with her own knife. They both ran off after that.

UPSIDE: I went outside and yelled at our neighbors to move their *&(**&&$%^ trailers. I just needed to vent.

Raven says our ride's here. But I can't see anything. Holy cheese, that is a big gun. Why is she pointing it at me?! Hang on a sec-

Gabby looked up. "That's it." She said.

"So that's what happened." Otto said. "And… that's why she wanted to escape so bad."

"Yeah." Said Lucy, snatching the diary back from Gabby. "Yeah. For revenge. I'm gonna kill him. And I'm going to laugh while I do it. So if you're all done invading my privacy…"

She stalked off down the hall, leaving Otto wondering what sort of person Lucy really was.


	35. We talk to the Headmaster Guy

Nero contacted them a few minutes later.

"Hi." Raven said.

"Raven, what the heck have you been doing?" Nero snapped from the computer screen. "And why are Cherry and Jacob with you?"

'It's a really, really, really long story." Cherry explained.

"Can you make it short?" Nero asked impatiently.

"We need transportation to Russia ASAP. " she said.

"I can't send you any help. I'm in a lot of trouble right now over what you guys did. Why the heck did you blow up the building?"

"We didn't." Jacob said. "We just broke the elevator."

Nero blinked.

"Not asking." He said. "Things might be better in a few hours, so will you please go pick up Mr. Malpense and company? They're at Miss Presscott's old house. I believe you know the location."

"Yeah, okay." Raven said, leaning back in the chair and rubbing her temples.

"You know where Vanessa and the others are?" Nero asked.

"Yep." Raven muttered.

"Are you okay? You're very pale."

"'M fine."

Nero looked at Jacob. "Make sure she doesn't over do it." He ordered.

"Yessir." Jacob saluted. Cherry swatted his arm.

"Max… if I'm not back… by tomorrow… you find her, you understand?" Raven said quietly. "She's at the Glasshouse. You have to stop them… before they make her like me."

"Would that really be such a bad thing?" Nero asked.

"Yes." Raven stood up. "I'm gonna go… do something." She vanished down the hall.

"Okay, what happened to her?" Nero asked.

"I dunno." said Cherry, shrugging. "She got injured, but… maybe she's just stressed. "

"Keep an eye on her." Nero said. "And tell her happy birthday."

"Happy birthday?" Jacob asked. Cherry hit him again.

"It's tomorrow, you idiot." She said. "Don't you ever pay attention?"

"How the heck do you know her birthday?" Jacob asked. Cherry ignored him.

"Well, I think that's it." Nero said.

"Oh!" Cherry cried. "Sorry for dislocating your shoulder, Dr. N."

"That's all right, Rubee." He terminated the connection.

"When did you do that?" Jacob asked.

"Last time I saw him." Cherry said.

"That would be twelve years ago?"

"Yeah."

"What happened?"

"I panicked."

"Well," Jacob reflected. "At least you didn't throw a cat in his face."


	36. Enter the Cat

Chapter Bob and Joe and Silent

Enter the cat

Again, with the you-are-insane thing.

Laura. NO ONE ASKED FOR YOU TO HIJJACK MY COMPUTER! NOW BUZZ OFF!

General Franks waddled across the courtyard until he came to the bench. He sat down at the feet of the man sitting there, and gave him his best death glare. Vanessa Winters may have been dead, but in his mind, her final order still stood.

Furan looked down and saw a large, fluffy, orange cat sitting on his boots.

"Why are you here?" He aimed a kick at him, but the cat didn't seem to notice. Perhaps he didn't feel it through all the layers of fur.

General Franks hopped up onto Furan's lap, then sat down contentedly, Furan tried to push him off, but the cat clung on and meowed like crazy.

"Okay, okay, okay." said Furan.

General Franks purred his pleasure. Furan ignored him, and stared off into the distance.

_He watched as the green car skidded to a stop, and Nero and the two girls darted out. One of them had red hair. He took aim at her, but the next thing he knew something very large, sharp, and furry had attached itself to his face. _

"_SIC HIM!" screamed a girl's voice. The gun was yanked from his hand. He heard the sound of running footsteps. _

_Furan yanked the cat off, and ran towards the retreating form of the girl. There was a crossbow strapped to her back, and she held his gun in one hand. She seemed to know where she was going, so he followed her. He knew she would lead him to Raven. _

_The streets were silent and snowy, and it was starting to get dark. The girl paused at an intersection, poked her head down the streets to her right and left, then ran down one and stopped. _

"_He's here, he's coming, you've got to get out of here!" he heard her pant. _

"_No can do." said a man's voice. "I can't move Natalya now."_

_The girl swore. _

"_I see them." said a third voice, which must belong to the red head. She didn't seem like much trouble, but appearances could be deceiving. "Their coming. That way." _

_Someone else said something, but too quiet for him to hear. _

"_We'll have to risk it. " the first girl said. She swore again. "Rubee, do you think you can hold things down here?"_

"_No… maybe." said Rubee. "There must have been six men… I can deal with that. But she was there too!"_

"_I'll try to delay her." said the first girl. _

"_If you try to fight her, you'll be killed." Rubee said. _

"_That's why I like long-distance weapons." The girl said. He heard footsteps again, taen someone said something in a whisper. _

"_I know it hurts." said the man. "Come on, Raven."_

_More footsteps. Lots of them, and shouting. Then someone screamed. _

_Furan moved so he could see. Rubee and the girl with the crossbow were fighting, and both of them were doing very well. In minutes, the six men had been dealt with. _

"_Nice work." he said, stepping out into the street. _

_The redhead breathed in sharply. She took a step back. _

_A knife flew out of nowhere, slashing across her throat. She toppled backward and lay still. _

"_How did you-?" The other girl blinked. "GENERAL!" _

_The orange cat appeared out of nowhere, streaking across the snow and stopping at her feet. _

"_Give it up, Vanessa." Furan said. _

"_Yes." said another voice, and Anastasia came into view. "Boarding school is much more pleasant than being dead." _

"_I'm not going anywhere." Vanessa snarled. "Fight me." _

"_So be it." said Anastasia calmly. _

Furan heard footsteps, snapping him out of the past. He pulled the pistol from his jacket pocket.

"Who's there?" he growled.

"Just me." said a quiet voice. A woman in her early twenties appeared from behind a building and walked towards him. She was dressed in a white dress with a gray sweater pulled over it, and her long dark hair was pulled back in a braid.

"Oh, you." Furan said, as the woman sat down next to him. "Are you still mad at me?"

"I would like to stop losing sleep over something that happened 40 years ago." The woman shrugged. "But it is a little difficult when your little sister keeps begging to kill the person who caused it. She wanted to come, but I told her no, because yesterday she had asked if she could kill you 'just a little'." She blinked at Furan. "What does that even mean?"

"I don't really know." Furan said. "You'd have to ask Shaesta."

"You can't even mention your name around her without her either begging for your decapitation or biting your head off." The woman shrugged. "Guess you deserve it."

"I guess I do." Furan said.

"How are they?" the woman asked.

"Serenity and Vanessa are dead." Furan said. "Mark is working for me. I hope, anyway."

"Well, that's good." The woman said. "I figured they'd all be dead, the way you work." She laughed.

"You still look twenty." Furan said softly. "No one would ever believe you're only two years younger."

"Yeah, well." The woman swung her feet back and forth. "You buried Zoey."

"Yeah." Furan muttered.

"But you still killed her." The woman said.

"Yep."

"You're a strange guy. I don't understand you."

"Why are you here, Bastille?" Furan said in a tired voice.

"I think you know." Bastille whispered. She kissed his cheek, then vanished.


	37. Laura needs a muffin

Chapter QWERTYUIOP

Laura needs a muffin

It took a few minutes for Sophie's death to sink in, and I sat down on the counter and asked in a subdued voice "What's for breakfast?"

"Whatever you can find." Madelynn said quietly.

What I could find: Eggs (the kitchen floor needed to be cleaned up now), toast, apple juice, and muffins.

"Why do you get such a well-stocked fridge?" I asked. "And a bed?"

"Because I live here." Madeynn pointed out. "And you don't."

"Yeah…" I said. "I wonder… I hope we don't actually have to live here. That would suck."

Madeynn didn't disagree.

Laura was in a bad mood, storming around the room and yelling at people who got in her way. Finally, I got sick of it.

"What the heck is your problem, Brand?!" I snapped as she bellowed at me for the fourteenth time, this time for putting my feet on the couch.

"IN CASE YOU HAVEN'T NOTICED, WE HAVE BEEN KIDNAPPED BY A PSYCHOTIC MANIAC WHO JUST KILLED ONE OF US!" Laura screamed in my face.

"YEAH!" I retorted. "BUT AT LEAST WE GOT MUFFINS!"

"That doesn't really follow…" Shelby pointed out, but we weren't listening.

"WHO CARES ABOUT MUFFINS!? WE'RE PROBABLY ALL GOING TO DIE, BUT YOU DON'T CARE BECAUSE _WE HAVE MUFFINS!"_

"Otto and Raven and Lucy and everyone will find us." I said.

"YOU DON'T KNOW THAT!" Laura yelled.

"YES, I DO." I hissed. "RAVEN IS MY MUM, AND SHE'S GOING TO FIND ME. THAT IS HOW THE WORLD WORKS. END OF STORY, GOOD NIGHT."

"I used to think like that." Laura growled. "I used to think Otto was going to come save me. But there's no way they know where we are. We've gotta save ourselves."

"Right, and you have a plan for doing that?" I asked.

Laura was silent.

"Reeeeeally?" I asked. "Then _maybe _you should listen to me."

That was when Laura punched me in the jaw.


	38. An acidental confession

Cherry found Raven in her bedroom. She looked like she was asleep, so Cherry left her and when back to the kitchen where Jacob was.

"She barely ate." Jacob said.

"I think she's sick. Or maybe that was, like, a poison sword or something." Cherry sighed. "Why now?"

"Just to make things more complicated." Jacob said.

"Well, she's asleep now." Cherry said. "So don't disturb her."

Jacob glared at Cherry.

"You don't trust me."

"No, as a matter of fact, I don't." Cherry said calmly. She took a bite of toast, which was pretty cold now, then set it back down.  
"It was one time, Rubee." Jacob said in an exasperated tone.

"Yeah."  said Cherry in Russian. "And look how much trouble _that _caused."

Jacob scowled.

"Max isn't trouble. And it isn't his fault."

"Guess who's fault it _is_?" Cherry crossed her arms.

"Okay, okay, I'm sorry." Said Jacob.

"Yeah, well, you're also a coward." Cherry hissed. "And I don't like cowards."

"What do you mean?" Jacob stood up very fast.

"You haven't said a word about this to Natalya." 

"YOU'RE THE ONE WHO TOLD ME NOT TO!" Jacob exploded. "YOU HAVE NO RIGHT TO CALL ME A COWARD!"

"I MEANT NOT THEN, NOT WHILE SHE WAS UNDER THAT MUCH STRESS." yelled Cherry. "BUT NOW THAT SHE'S NOT CRYING ANYMORE, YOU MIGHT AS WELL GO ON AND GET IT OVER WITH! GO IN THERE RIGHT NOW AND TELL HER YOU'RE MAX'S FATHER!"

Jacob shoved Cherry very hard. Her chair toppled over, but she jumped to her feet, looking like she might hit him.

"There's no need to tell me." a very cold voice said from the doorway. "I speak Russian, you know." 

Raven whirled around and stomped from the apartment, slamming the door behind her.

It was a long time before either Cherry or Jacob spoke.

"I thought she was asleep." Cherry whispered hoarsely.

"Yeah?" Jacob snarled. "Well guess what?"


	39. Furan hugs trees

Chapter ASDFGHJKL;'

Furan hugs trees

THAT HAS ABSOLUTLY NOTHING TO DO WITH THIS CHAPTER!

Yeah… but it's FUNNY! And actually, it is kind of related, cuz Furan's in it…

YEAH, BUT HE DOESN'T HUG ANYTHING, LET ALONE A TREE!

Oh, go eat a sock, Laura.

Hah hah hah.

Furan wasn't quite sure what to make of Bastille's visit. And the kiss. Once upon a time, he'd spent a lot of time kissing Bastille. But that was before he'd figured out how the world worked, and that people like her just got killed.

He was in a bad mood. He needed to take it out on someone. He found Ally.

"Sir?" she asked. Mark was sitting next to her, and for a moment Furan imagined him younger, with two other girls beside him… he shook his head and the image faded. No time for that now.

"Get Raven's brat." Furan growled. "And find my sister. "

Ally gave him a quizzical look.

"Just do it!" he hissed.

Ally stood up and hurried away. Mark turned and glared at him. Furan saw he had one of his and Ally's daughters on his lap, the youngest one, he couldn't remember her name.

"You're going to kill her." He said.

"No." said Furan. "I'm not allowed to kill her.

"I am sooooo incredibly reassured." Mark snapped

"And I am soooo incredibly happy that Raven taught you sarcasm." Furan snapped back.

"Yeah." Mark said. "So why can't you kill her?"

"Because Overlord said not to."

"What about the others?"

"Some of them, he needs. The rest… we can do whatever we want to."

"Raven's dead, you know." Mark said.

"Yes, I do. Anastasia wanted to kill her, but… you can't always get what you want."

"No." said Mark. He looked down at his daughter. Her hair was blond, and braided with flowers. He plucked one out and tore it into tiny pieces. "No, you can't."


	40. Peace, love and time bombs

"What are you on about?" Furan asked.

"When are you going to let her go?" Mark demanded.

"Who?" Furan asked.

"Serenity." Mark plucked out another flower. The little girl laughed, and tried to take it back. Mark held it out of reach.

"Sorry, Zoe." He said.

The next thing he knew, he was on his back on the ground, Zoe next to him, a red stain blossoming across her chest.

Mark sat up, dazed. "What the-" He looked from Furan, who was pocketing his gun, to Zoe. "YOU KILLED HER!" he yelled, and dove at him.

Furan stepped aside, and Mark slammed into the ground, which hurt.

"You had no right to name her that." He growled. "No right."

"I- what's so wrong about the name Zoe?" Mark yelled.

Anastasia walked up to them. "What is going on?" she asked sharply.

"What's so wrong about the name Zoe?" Mark demanded, scooping up Zoe.

Anastasia laughed, but did not answer.

"Go, Winters." She ordered. Mark stood up and left, cradling Zoe to his chest.

"So?" Furan asked.

"That girl." Anastasia hissed. "is a time bomb. She has too much power for one child. I don't understand why you brought her here."

"Are you talking about Vanessa Montov?" Furan asked.

"She's too dangerous." Anastasia insisted.

"Are you… _frightened_ of a teenager?" Furan asked, smiling coldly.

"I am not afraid of her." Anastasia snapped. "I am afraid because she brings four very powerful bloodlines together, and that is too much power for one person- especially for a child. Pretty soon, she will explode. You've got to get her out of here."

"Overlord will take her off our hands soon enough." Furan shrugged. "We'll just be careful in the meantime."

"Her mum's coming." Anastasia said.

"What?" Furan asked. "But she's de-"

"No, she is alive, and she knows where we are and where Vanessa is." Anastasia smiled. "Hopefully, she'll bring him with her."

"Knowing her, she will." Furan said. "She's already lost Vanessa- she'll be very protective of him."

"Good." Anastasia said.

Mark stood a few feet away behind the building. She was here? What was she doing here? And more importantly, what did that mean for him?  
Mark looked down at Zoe, then made his decision.


	41. Leaving Raven unsupervised is a BAD IDEA

Chapter ZXCVBNM?

Leaving ninja assassins unsupervised is a really, really bad idea.

What is that supposed to mean?

Laura: SILENCE IS GOLDEN!

But I'm not making any noise.

ARRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRGG GGGGGGGGG! (Weirdly, the computer thinks that's a word.)

Raven got into the car and slammed on the accelerator. Nothing happened. She sighed, turned the car on, than started driving towards where she had picked up Lucy four years ago.

Raven thought _ARRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRGGGGGGGG GGG!_

What the heck had Jacob done? Why hadn't he told her? Why hadn't Cherry told her? Why does this computer think that ARRRGGG! is a word?

She was in a really, really bad mood. And her head was all cloudy. And she had a headache.

Something was wrong with her, she knew. She was hurt. Worse then she should after receiving the injuries she had. The cuts on her leg and arm were shallow. They shouldn't hurt this bad. Maybe it was poison. _Not _again_. _she thought.

It took her about an hour to get to Lucy's house. She climbed out of the car, and knocked on the door.

A blond girl, the one she had retrieved… was it really only a day ago? opened the door. She could see Otto behind her.

"Wait… how many are there of you?" Raven asked.

"Uhh…" The girl blinked. "Five, why?"

"Are we in trouble?" Otto asked, stepping outside. He put his hand on the blond girl's(Grace? Something like that…) shoulder, which made her blush.

"Probably." Raven sighed. "Look, just get in the car, okay?"

They did what she asked. Wing got the passenger seat, because he was the biggest, and Otto, Gabby(that was it, Gabby.), Ben and Lucy squished into the back. They fit, but Gabby, the smallest, had to sit on Otto's lap, which made both her and Otto go red, and Lucy to make sarcastic comments from her side of the car. She had a lot more space than the others, because Ben refused to get any closer to her.

"Wait a second…" Raven muttered, as something clicked. "You're Gabby Johnson, right?"

"Yeah…" Gabby stared out the window, decidedly not looking at Otto.

"What're your parent's names?"

"Aida Lily and Jacob." Gabby said. "Why?"

Raven blinked.

"That explains a lot." She said, then started the engine.

"Hey, did you teach Vanessa to drive?" Ben asked.

"Yes… why?" Raven asked.

"Just wondering." Ben said, tightening his seatbelt.


	42. Leaving Otto alone is a REALLY BAD IDEA

"Ummm… Raven?" Otto asked. "Are you wearing a skirt?"

"So what if I am?" Raven growled, turning around to give Otto her best Death Glare.

"Ahhh-AHHHHHHHH!" Ben screamed. He was either attempting to sing falsetto or loudly protesting Raven's driving skills.

"I see the minivan!" Raven lied, swerving furiously. "I was just saying hello to Otto."

"Yes, and I'm a flying fishmonger." Otto muttered. Thankfully, Raven had just mowed over a shrub and didn't hear him.

When they arrived back at Raven's house, everyone except Raven was feeling a little sick. Jacob was nowhere to be found but Cherry eyed the kids suspiciously.

"Who're they?" she said.

"A couple of Max's students- it's a really long story why their here." Raven sighed.

"What's that?" Jacob said, appearing out of nowhere.

"Will you please inform my former associate I have no longer deemed it necessary to communicate with him, because his head is so thick nothing gets through?" Raven said through gritted teeth, staring pointedly at the wall.

Cherry gestured at her brother. "What she said."

"Ah." said Jacob. Then he frowned. "What did she say, again?"

"SHE'S NOT TALKING TO YOU!" Otto called from the bathroom.

"Right." Jacob said. "Would you please inform _my _former… thingy… that I'm not talking to her either… because… she's too stubborn to listen?"

Cherry opened her mouth to repeat this, but Raven gave her a Death Glare.

"I heard him." She muttered, and then stomped off.

"Are those two annoyed with each other?" Lucy asked.

"More than normal, yeah." Cherry shrugged.

Ben sat down on the couch.

"Are you okay?" said Lucy. "You look like you've just seen a ghost."

"No, I've just seen Gabby and Otto make out." Ben said.

"Ah." Lucy frowned. "That is scary."


	43. Laura gets a black eye(I didn't do it)

Chapter `1234567890-=

I am actually punched, and my iPod is abducted by Stacy.

Okay, technically, you were punched in the last chapter.

And _technically, _NO ONE CARES.

I had no idea that my heart's desire had just been stolen from me. But I did know that Laura had just hit me. And she'd gotten a LOT stronger since the last time. (do NOT ask. There was a lawnmower. That's all the information I'm allowed to give.) I landed on my butt on Franz, who sat up and screamed.

"OWWW!" I yelled. (Actually, I added something very rude that Raven ordered me not to put here. _BUT GUESS WHO I LEARNED IT FROM?!_)

"OWWWWW!" Franz yelled.

"OWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWW!" I yelled, louder.

"OWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWW WWWWWWWWWWWW!" Franz belted, not to be outdone.

I took a deep breath.

"OWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWW WWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWW WWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWW WWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWW WWWWWWWWWWWWWW-"

"That's quite enough of _that,_ thank you." said a cool voice, and someone pulled me to my feet and pinned me to the wall.

"Ow!" I said. Unfortunately, whoever it was didn't 'ow' back. It was a woman. She was wearing an expensive looking dress, which I immediately had the desire to dump cocoa all over. Probably because she was staring at me like Raven did when I _did _dump cocoa all over the expensive dress Nero was making her wear. Only this lady didn't crack up four seconds later.

"Please give me your computer." She said.  
"Oh?" I said. "He's in my boot."

She looked at me like I was nuts (I get that reaction a lot, surprisingly.)and said. "You get it, then."

Since there was a gun in her hand, I bent down and pulled Cake out (one second version: Cake is an iPod/supercomputer who I wish was named Steve), and handed it to the lady.

"Sorry if he smells a little." I said. "All my socks were in the wash."

"TMI." Shelby muttered.

"Thank you." She sighed. "At least _one _things going right today." She headed off towards the door. "Oh, and I'm just warning you- the only ones Overlord needs are Miss Lord and Miss Brand. The rest of you…" She trailed off, smiled evily, and shut the door.

"BYE!" I yelled, and kicked the door, which did absolutely nothing except give make my toes hurt.

"Who was _that_?" Shelby asked, with the expression of someone who had just smelled my feet.

"Wait…" I tugged on the ends of one of my ponytails. "Did she just say… Overlord?"

"Yep." Laura said.

"He has Cake?"

"Yep."

"Well, _that's _not good." I muttered.

"Wow." Said Laura in mock admiration. "Maybe she _does _have a brain after all…"

At this point…. I kinda lost my temper… anyway, Laura fell on Franz. I could tell she was going to have a spectacularly black eye sometime in the near future.

"AHHHHHH!"yelled Laura.

"AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH H!" yelled Franz.

"Earplugs, anyone?" Madelynn asked, holding out a box.


	44. My dreams are crushed (Fun)

**Five minutes earlier. **

Otto was washing his hands when Gabby stuck her head in.

"Oh." She said, and blushed. "I didn't know you were..."

"Whoops." Otto said, decidedly not looking at her.

She opened the door, which squeaked, and then shut it.

"I'm not good… with people." Gabby said. Otto continued staring at his ear's reflection in the mirror.

"My parents… they aren't either… so I guess I've got an excuse." she continued. "But… what I'm trying to say…. is…"

Otto turned around.

"Is something wrong-"he started, but he didn't get to finish because the next thing he knew Gabby was kissing him.

Otto's brain went into Panic Mode, and stayed there for a few seconds, until he registered that Gabby had stopped kissing him and was staring at him with such a caring expression… he kissed her back.

That was when Ben ran into the bathroom, stopped abruptly, and ran out again. But neither of them noticed.

But they had to notice when Raven stuck her head in and yelled "HEY!"

Otto stopped, feeling guilty for some reason. Probably because Raven was glaring at him.

"I've been trying to stay out of this." Raven said. It sounded like she was trying not to yell at him. "But if you hurt my daughter in any way, shape or form, I swear I will decapitate you and use your head as a candy basket on Halloween. Are we clear?"

Otto nodded. (To be honest, what else could he do?)

"Okay." Raven nodded. "Continue." She said, and ducked back out again.


	45. Madelynn acts all dramatic, then faints

Chapter ~! #$%^&*()_+

Overlord speaks loudly and carries a pink scarf.

That doesn't even make sense.

Well, I am SO sorry, Laura.

Raven shut the door to her room and sat down on her bed, breathing hard. Something was seriously wrong. She slumped backward. The whole room blurred for a second, then solidified.

She pulled her phone out from her back pocket. Three messages. One was from Nero, trying to get her to do something stupid _again_, one was from Cherry asking where she was and apologizing repeatedly for her brother's idiocy, and another from an unknown number.

_Status report._ Raven read.

Quickly, she typed _Ive hidden it where only V will find it. Have you got the third code?_

Everything went blurry again. Raven took a sip of water from the glass by her bed. "What is going on?" she asked out loud.

Of course, nobody answered.

###

Madelynn yelled "HEY, YOU!"

We all turned and looked at her.

"Do you know what is going on?" she asked, her face kind of pale.

"Overlord has Cake." I said.

"And Furan has taken us prisoner." Laura added.

"And we have muffins!" Franz declared.

"I don't understand all of what's going on." Madelynn said. She sounded like she was trying to keep calm. "But Overlord's looking for three codes. One of them's been lost for years. One of them is safe. And the other one, Furan's got."

"What does this have to do with Cake?" I asked.

"Who asked you to make him?" Madelynn asked. "And don't ask how I know this. I just do."

"… Overlord." I said.

"Is there anywhere on… Cake that no matter how hard you tried, you couldn't access?"

"Yeah." I said. "There was some sort of file called… I can't remember now."

"Try and think of it." Madelynn urged.

"It was… something like forever." I said, scrunching up my nose.

"Infinity?" Shelby suggested.

"How about eternity?" Nigel said.

"Yeah!" I said. "Yeah, that was it!"

Madelynn gasped.

"This is much worse than I thought." She mumbled.

Then she fainted.


	46. We talk to a cat

"OI!" I yelled. "Madelynn!" I shook her shoulders.

"Oh, dear." said a slightly familiar voice from the doorway. "Is Miss Lord causing trouble again?"

I turned around and saw Overlord. Only now he was an adult, dressed in a tuxedo, and carrying a pink scarf with a large and fluffy cat hanging off one arm.

"Uh…" I said. "Is it just me, or is this scenario confusing to anyone else?"

Overlord sighed. "Hold this." He said, detaching the cat from his arm and plopping him in my arms. "Have you seen Anastasia? She dropped this."

"She stole Vanessa's iPod and skedaddled." Laura explained.

"Is that even a word?"

"In my world, yes." I said. "AND IN MY WORLD, OVEN ON BUTTONS ARE LABELED 'ON' NOT 'BAKE'!"

Everyone blinked at me.

"Really long story." I added.

"I'm beginning to remember why I don't like you." Overlord grumbled.

"I think it should be Laura you hate." I said. "After all, she did squirt you with a fire extinguisher, and knock you out."

"Don't remind me." Overlord groaned.

The cat jumped from my arms, ran over to Madelynn, and started meowing in her face. Madelynn stood up and said. "Really?"

"Mrrrrow hsssss pssst mrrr."

"So she should have it now?"

"Meow mew meow."

"Ummm…" I said, now totally confused. "Do you understand the cat?"

"You can't?" Madelynn sounded genuinely surprised. "Well, he is speaking in code…"

"Excuse me, sir." Said the blond woman from the bus, standing behind him. "I'm supposed to bring Miss Montov to Furan. Immediately."

"Right." Overlord handed her the scarf. "Give this to Anastasia."

"Okay." The woman grabbed my arm. Her nails were painted bright pink, and THEY WERE DIGGING INTO MY ARM! OWW!

"Why are you here?" Madelynn asked, stroking the cat, who looked like he was about to bite the blond woman's head off.

"To check something." Overlord said. "Will Raven rescue you and get out alive?"

Madelynn bit her lip and her whole body tensed.

"No." she said.

"Just checking." Overlord said. The blond woman dragged me from the room. Overlord followed, shutting the door behind him. Instead of locking it, he just pressed his hand up where the doorknob should be for a few seconds, and it was locked.

"You guys really need a better interior designer." I said, surveying my surroundings. "Wa-a-ay to much concrete."

"Shut up." The woman hissed.

"What's your name?" I asked curiously.

"Ally Winters, not that it's any of your business." She started pulling me down the hall. "Walk, will you? You know how, right?"

The name seemed familiar somehow. "My dad… my dad's name is Winters!" I recalled triumphantly. "Are you related?"

"Yes." Snapped Ally. "We're married. Now _stop talking and WALK_!"

"That's going to make Raven reeeeeally happy." I muttered.


	47. I shove a box on Furan's head

Chapter ARNIE CHEESE SPACING

I chat with two super villains and Cherry interrupts

Ally dragged me into a big room. Then she left. It was empty and dusty, like it hadn't been used it a while. A _long _while. I sneezed.

Then I jumped up, trying to grab the latch to the skylight above me. Unless I suddenly grew four feet, getting out that was not going to work. Cheese balls. I looked around for a box or something I could use, but the room was totally empty. Except for a door. (Well, two doors, the one I'd come in and the other one, but the first one was locked and not important.)

I went over to the door and found that it lead to a bathroom that also hadn't been dusted in a long time. And under the sink was A BOX! I dumped all the stuff out of it (it was full of soap) and dragged it over to under the skylight. Then I climbed up on it and jumped.

I was just tall enough to undo the latch. Great. Now I just needed a way to get up there. My(Raven's) grappler was gone. But I did have like ten hair ties. Maybe I could use them to make a rope-

"What are you doing?" snapped a voice. It was that Frank guy. He walked over towards me, starting to pull out a gun. "Stop!"

Unable to think of anything, I grabbed the box and shoved it over his head.

"MMMMFFFF!" Pascal Fuzzy yelled, trying to remove the box. I ran for the door- he's stupidly left it open, and bolted into the hall. I had no idea where I was going, but I had a theory about buildings- if you ran for long enough, you'd eventually come to an exit. H.I.V.E. of course, was the exception to that rule. And my theory proved true. I ducked through a door and found myself in another courtyard. I could hear Fryingpan coming towards me. It was also really cold. I tried to think of a plan.

I ran across the courtyard and smashed into someone. Next thing I knew, everything flipped upside down and I was lying on the stone, someone's foot on my chest.

"GERROFF!" I yelled.

"Be silent, you silly girl." Hissed whoever it was, and she kicked me in the ribs. I stifled a cry, sat up, and sank my teeth into her leg. She cried out and the pressure lessened. I scrambled to me feet and ran into another building. I ducked into the first office I saw, shut the door, and dived behind a potted plant and hoped I looked like a wall.

I looked around. Wherever I was, it seemed pretty normal.

Then I saw the picture on the back of the door, and despite myself I whispered "Huh?"


	48. Raven the Errand Girl

**Geez, this thing is a lot longer than I thought it was going to be. Nuts. Anyway, thank you for the reviews, and for reading this…**

Cherry

Raven had vanished into her room, and so I was left looking over the five kids and Max. Make that four- Gabby and Jacob had gone off to have father-daughter time, or something. I didn't know and I didn't care.

"Hey, I have a question."

It was the bossy one with the blond streak. "Fire away." I said.

"Why aren't you a- what is Raven's official title anyway?"

"Either errand girl, or pet assassin." I smirked.

"I somehow doubt those are correct terms." Wing said.

"Yeah, yeah whatever. So why don't I do what Raven does?"

"Yes." Said Blond Streak.

"Because I'm a 'loose cannon'." I said. "I'm not allowed in the field."

"What does that mean?" the white-haired boy said.

"I-"

"It's not important." Jacob said, appearing behind me and scaring the heck out of me.

"Yeah." I said. But I was already going back, to the last time I'd been in a fight…

"_So be it." Anastasia said. She smiled. I lay on my back in the snow, trying to get my mind around what had just happened. It was hard to breathe, and there was something warm and wet on my face, the salty taste trickling into my mouth. I sat up, and wiped my face on the back of my sleeve. I looked up and saw Natalya and Nero on the fire escape above me. Hopefully, they would not be noticed by the Furans. If they just stayed quiet…_

"_The redhead is still alive." Pietor noted. _

"_I have a name, you know." I snapped, scrambling to my feet. I was dizzy, and weak, but they didn't know that. I saw a knife glittering in front of me and picked it up._

"_She won't be, for long." Anastasia glared at me. Vanessa stepped in front of me. _

"_I'm the one you want. Leave Rubee alone." _

"_Neither of you are the one we want." Furan snapped. He tried to punch Vanessa's jaw, but she ducked and kicked at him. It connected, but didn't do much. _

_My breath was catching in my throat, and I was seeing double. I grabbed the wall for support. Anastasia advanced on me, pulling a pistol from inside her jacket. I waved the knife at her. _

"_Back off!" I yelled._

"_Put that down." Anastasia cocked the pistol and aimed it at my heart. _

_I heard something crack, a girl's scream, and nothing more._


	49. I hide behind a plant

Chapter pappy pappy pappy

Is that a word?

The computer says it is…

A little family reunion

The wall in front of me was covered with photographs. Hundreds and hundreds of photographs of Raven.

_That's a leeeeettle bit creepy. _I thought.

I stood up from my hiding place and looked at them. In most of them, Raven was around my age, typically with either a blond girl, a dark haired girl, my dad or some combination of the above. She always looked pretty serious, and they didn't look like normal pictures you'd take of your friends- it wasn't like they were doing anything fun. Unless 'fun' meant standing in front of a cement wall. Except for one.

I think she must have been at some sort of party, because she was wearing a blue dress that made her look really pretty. My dad was next to her, his arm around her. Beside his was a blond girl with flowers braided into her hair. She was looking at the camera, but she didn't seem to be really paying much attention. Another girl who looked like Mark and shared my green eyes had her arm around the blond girl. Her eyes were narrowed, and she looked really, really familiar. Not like when I'd met Raven and had fuzzily recognized her from when I was a baby, but like I'd seen her. Recently.

I pulled the picture down and shoved it in my pocket.

The door swung open.

I dove behind the potted plant and tried not to breath. They wouldn't _kill_ someone for shoving a box on someone's head… right?

"What are you doing, Vanessa?" asked a voice, and someone pulled me up. "Surely you could think of a better place to hide then behind a potted plant."

I glared at my father. "I panicked, okay? Say… why are you here?"

"This is my office." Mark said, like it was obvious. "I work here."

"You mean… here?"

"That's what I just said, isn't it?" Mark snapped.

"Your plant is dying." I told him.

"Why are you here?"

"Because I got kidnapped."

"I _know._ Why are you in my office?"

"Uhhh…" I scratched my head. "Because… I was trying to hide?"

"From who?"

"From Raven's elementary school principal."

"He's not her… never mind." Mark sighed.

"What is he, then?"

"It's not important."

"He sure is bad at getting boxes off his head." I noted.

"Well, there was duct tape hanging off the box, and I think it got in his hair." Mark said.

"Awesome." I said.

"I have to turn you in, now."

"WHATT!?" I spluttered.

"Anastasia!" Mark called. "I've got her!"

The woman who'd abducted Cake appeared.

"Come on." She hissed, grabbing my arm. She held a gun in her other hand.

"I'm on your side." Mark hissed, before Anastasia closed the door and he was gone.


	50. My father is confusing

At about eleven, they got a message from Nero, explaining all the trouble he'd gone to getting them a Shroud. Raven typed a quick 'thnx' back, then they all went outside and walked to where the Shroud was parked.  
The whole time, Jacob was thinking about what Lucy Presscott had said. She barely knew them- how had she gotten so close to their secret?

_We weren't taken, we were given. _

_My sister can't control herself. _

_If someone gives her an order when she's not prepared, she always follows it. _

_She was the Furan's lapdog for years before Vanessa Winters rescued her. _

_I can't let that happen again. _

"Are you okay?" Gabby asked, squeezing his hand.

"Yeah." Jacob said. "I was just… thinking."

###

Mark was nervous.

He had gotten used to being the perfect follower. An act of rebellion like this… that was what Vanessa had been good at, not him.

She was two years older, and a lot stronger. She didn't let anyone push her around, and she never let anyone make her into something she wasn't, like he had. But she was long dead. He didn't know how, but he knew it had to do with Furan, as usual. He would have to do this by himself.

Mark sat down in the chair behind his desk, and turned it to face the wall of photos. Ally didn't know about this. He didn't really have feelings for her, but he pretended to. He wasn't sure why, but it gave him a reason to hang around her, which meant he got more information on what was going on.

He was the only one who could see the big picture- him and Madelynn Lord. He didn't know her secrets, but he knew she trusted him.

And she knew that if things continued the way they were going, both Vanessa and Otto Malpense would die.

The door opened at his touch. It had been simple to get it to register him as well. The five children stared at him with confusion.

"Where's Vanessa?" he said.

"With Furan." Laura said. She knew him a little from her time here, and she knew he was decent.

Mark swore.

"Okay." He said. "I'll figure something out later. Time to go."


	51. I am a naughty girl

Chapter ?:"{}|

I am a very naughty girl

No kidding.

I was back in the room Ally had dragged me into, and Pink Flipflops was glaring at me. He had a large piece of duct tape stuck to his forehead. I thought about mentioning it, then decided not to. It was pretty entertaining.

"Why are you smiling?" he snapped.

"I know you are, but what am I?" I said.

"That doesn't even make sense." He crossed his arms.

"I know you are, but what am I?"

"Shut up." He said. The duct tape fluttered every time he breathed. I giggled.

"Ignore her." said the Cake-Abducting lady, entering and wrapping Overlord's pink scarf around her throat. "She's just trying to annoy you."

"I know that." He scowled.

"Why is your name so annoying and hard to spell?" I asked.

He opened his mouth and shut it, then did it again.

"See, I can't even pronounce it, so I've been calling you weird names like Pink Flipflops or Pascal Fuzzy in my head." I continued. "Do you have a nickname, or something?"

"_I'm going now_." He said, refusing to look at me. Then he walked out of the room.

"BYE!" I yelled.

Pink Scarf lady watched me closely.

"And what's your name?" I asked.

"Anastasia." She stepped closer to me and pushed the hair out of my eyes (oh, and just so you know I was tied to a chair.)

"Can I call you Stacy for short?" I asked.

She pulled a knife from the pocket of her fancy dress.

"And… that's a _no._" I guessed.

"Yes." She said.

"Yes, I can call you Stacy?"

"No, yes, that's a no."

"Oh." I said. I tilted my head, thinking about it. "Wow. That does _not _make sense."

"Raven is your mother, correct?"

"Yeah…" I said.

"Then let's see how long it takes to make you obedient." She said, than jammed the knife deep into my shoulder.


	52. Involuntary Reflex Number 2

Before I continue, let me explain(or restate) a few facts.

I have three involuntary reflexes.

One: when I'm startled, I scream. Really, really loudly.

Two: when I'm in considerable pain, I puke on whoever is nearest. (Raven discovered this when she put her sword through my foot. That was a fun evening.)

Three: when I'm riding an out-of-control exploding bicycle with no breaks down an extremely steep hill with a guy in a Geico blimp firing a machine gun at me, while wearing a bridesmaid dress(me, not the guy in the blimp) and flashing my Hello Kitty underpants, I yell "PEANUT BUTTER!" and throw a paper clip at Wing's head.

We haven't gotten to the last one yet, but we will, and I _promise _it makes sense in context.

Anyway.

"This is a new dress!" Anastasia yelled.

I didn't say anything. I was too busy trying not to be sick again.

"What did you do that for?!" she continued.

"If you'd read… the intro to this chapter… you'd know… it was an… _involuntary_ reflex." I choked out, then was sick again.

"I'm going to go change." Anastasia huffed, then left the room.

"Thanks for leaving me here!" I called after her.

She didn't say anything. I tried thinking of another escape plan, but couldn't think very well. I looked down at where she'd stabbed me_. Okay, that's a lot of blood. Wow. Wow, that hurts. _

Anastasia came back, now wearing a _different _expensive looking dress.

"You know, if you're trying to make me obey you, you should just give me a giant bucket of candy." I told her.

"What's the fun in that?"

"You have issues."

"You talk too much."

"People tell me that a _lot._" I said.

"I couldn't possibly imagine why." Anastasia rolled her eyes.

"Yeah, me too!" I said. Then I frowned. "That was sarcasm, wasn't it?"


	53. Mark and Vanessa

**Seventeen years previously. **

"_No." said Vanessa, crossing her arms. _

"_Yes." Said Furan, glaring at her. _

"_No." Vanessa repeated. _

"_It'll make me _very _happy." Furan pleaded._

"_If it makes you happy, then why the %#! are you so mean?" Vanessa retorted. _

_Furan took a deep breath. _

"_And you need to get yourself a proper weapon." He snarled. "You look like a Shakespearean actor."_

"_At least I don't lose my pets." Vanessa scoffed. "I thought you'd have figured out by now that if you open the cage, the bird flies away." _

_At this point, Anastasia had to retrain Furan. _

"_If you kill her-" she said through gritted teeth(it was very hard to hold him back) "-we can't train her." _

"_Generally, people are a lot less annoying when they're dead!" Furan yelled, still making frantic attempts to get to Vanessa._

_Anastasia spun him around to face her. _

"_You need to calm down." She said. _

"_I AM SO CALM IT'S NOT EVEN FUNNY!" Furan thundered. _

"_Yeah, right." Vanessa laughed. _

_Anastasia slapped her across the face. "Stay out of this." She snarled. _

"_I'll do whatever the %#! I want." Vanessa declared, and marched from the room. _

"_YOU WILL DO AS I SAY!" Furan yelled after her. "SOMEDAY SOON, THERE WILL BE BLOOD ON YOUR HANDS, AND YOU WON'T BE ABLE TO ACT SO HIGH-AND-MIGHTY THEN!"_

_Vanessa yelled something rude, than vanished from sight. _

_Anastasia let go of Furan. _

"_Ow." He said. _

"_Sorry." Said Anastasia, not sounding very sorry. _

"_She _will _listen." He said. "She's one of us, she can't help it." _

_Anastasia smiled. _

"_The problem is, Zoey is 'one of us' too, isn't she?" _

_Serenity was curled up on the bed when Vanessa stormed in, weaving yet another daisy chain. Mark didn't know where she got the flowers, but there was always a circlet in her hair and daisies braided in her long blond hair.  
"What's wrong?" Mark asked Vanessa.  
"We're leaving." Vanessa grabbed a bag from under her bed.  
"You finally got Da's approval?" Mark stood up.  
"No- why would I do that?" Vanessa shoved blankets and several tins of food into the bag.  
"Where are we going?"  
"Out."  
"Help me with my buttons?" Serenity yanked on her boots.  
"Your going along with this?" Mark spluttered. "If they find us- and they will- they will kill us! Why would you do this?"  
Serenity fixed him with her big blue eyes.  
"Why not?" she said._


	54. Escape

_###_

_Escaping was easy. _

_That probably should have clued Mark in. But he was so caught up in the euphoria of finally getting out he didn't notice. _

"_WA-HOO!" Vanessa bellowed at the top of her lungs. She hung out the window of the truck they'd borrowed and laughed. _

"_Shouldn't you be concentrating on other things?" Mark asked. "Like, I dunno, _driving?_"_

"_Aw, relax, Mark." Vanessa rolled her eyes. _

"_Relax?" Mark snarled. "I'm very relaxed. We're only in a truck stolen from a secret assassin training base with a FOURTEEN YEAR OLD DRIVING ON SNOW AND ICE!"_

"_Actually." Serenity noted. "It's more like slush." _

"_SHE'S STILL DRIVING!" Mark yelled. _

"_No, me and General Franks are taking it in turns." Vanessa said. _

_That was when Mark lost it. _

_###_

_Anastasia waited for the alarm to go off, and it did. Since she was already dressed, it only took her a few minutes to get to the control room. _

_Furan entered a few minutes later. Well, sort of. He was so tired he missed the doorway and hit the wall next to it instead. _

_Anastasia picked him up off the floor and pinched him. Hard. _

"_Ow!" yelled Furan. "What was-" he yawned. "that for?"_

"_Wake up." Anastasia threatened. "Or I'll slap you." _

"_I'm awake." He insisted, then yawned again._

_Anastasia slapped him._

"_OW!" Furan yelled. "OWW! I'm awake! I'm awake!" _

"_Good." Said Anastasia. "What's going on?" she asked the man in the room. _

"_Serenity, Vanessa and Mark Winters somehow managed to steal a truck and get out of here. Two hours ago." _

"_I told you we should have guarded them b-b-better." Furan yawned again. _

"_And we didn't notice this _why_?" Anastasia asked, pretending to be angry. _

"_No one really knows." Said the man. "Everyone who was on duty just… fell asleep." _

"_Great." Said Anastasia. Furan yawned again. "You!" she ordered, making him jump._

"_Who, me?"_

"_Yes, you! Go after them!"_

"_Right!" Furan turned around and walked into the wall again._

"_Never mind." Anastasia snarled. "I'll do it myself." _

_She walked out the door, then paused and turned around. _

"_And just so you know, that little one's dying." _


	55. The power of SARCASM!

"_THE CAT IS NOT DRIVING!" Mark yelled. _

"_Why not?" Vanessa asked. "He's very intelligent."_

"_I DON'T CARE IF HE'S A FELINE EINSTIEN, HE DOESN'T HAVE OPOSABLE THUMBS!"_

"_What're those?" Serenity asked. But her brother and sister ignored her. _

"_I KNOW!" Vanessa snapped, getting a little annoyed. "That's why he drives with his head, you dumbo."_

"_I AM NOT A DUMBO FOR FORBIDDING A _CAT_ TO DRIVE!"_

_Serenity shivered- she'd just gotten a bad feeling, like when Vanessa dumped snow down her jacket. _

"_They're coming." She said. Neither Vanessa nor Mark questioned her. They'd learned that Serenity had a sixth sense about these things. _

"_Right." Mark said. He sounded like he was trying to be calm. "It doesn't matter if the cat drives- we need to ditch the truck."_

"_We'll freeze!" Vanessa protested. "And we'll be loads slower on foot."_

"_Don't you think the truck sticks out a little?" _

"_Anyway, if we keep going east there's a place we can take shelter a mile away." Serenity said. Again, no one questioned how she knew this._

"_See, Anna. Now let's stop the truck-" Mark stopped speaking because Vanessa had grabbed him by the collar of his shirt using the mirror and yanked him forward. _

"_I told you not to call me that!" she yelled. _

"_I'm sorry…it slipped… out." Mark choked. "You never… cared… before…"_

"_That was because I didn't know who I was named after before." Vanessa said in a dangerously calm voice, letting go of Mark. "It's Vanessa now, got it?"_

"_Who are you named after?" Serenity ventured. Both her siblings refused to look at her. _

_They stopped the truck and got out. Despite all the extra clothes Vanessa had packed, it was still cold. But they kept going, and pretty soon reached a building. _

_It looked abandoned, and the door was locked, but Serenity withdrew the locket from her jacket and whispered something, and the door crumbled._

"_Couldn't you have just _opened _the door?" Vanessa grumbled as they went inside. _

"_You mean… like, without destroying it?" Serenity asked. _

"_Yes."_

"_Why on earth would I do that?"_

_Vanessa stopped dead in her tracks. _

"_That was…" she gasped. _

"_Sarcasm!" Mark yelled, and hugged Serenity._


	56. WEEOOO WEEEOOO WEEEEEOOO!

Chapter ALLGJIDSGSBOAEWFQJPAO

WE ARE BETRAYED WEEEEOOOO WEEEEEEOOO WEEEEEOOOOO

What the heck is that?

Sirens, duh.

That doesn't even make sense.

Why should it?

"So... this girl you're looking for... what is she to you?" Gabby asked.  
"My friend." Otto said.  
"And my daughter." Raven said, sitting next to them. She was holding Max very carefully.  
"Why did you bring the baby?" Otto asked warily. Raven could be a little unreasonable where her son was concerned.

"Because I've already gotten my daughter taken, they're not getting Max too." Raven said fiercely, glaring at Otto like he was trying to take the baby.

"Okay, okay, geez." Otto said. "But… it seems a little impractical, no?"

Raven gave Otto another Death Glare. Then her cell phone beeped.

_**That's not good enough. I need it now. **_

_i need a guarantee you won't kill her _Raven wrote.

_**Then it's off.**_was the response.

Raven bit her lip to keep from crying again.

_fine i'll give it when we land._

_**Now.**_

_i can't_

_**Now. **_

"Is something wrong?" Cherry asked.

"No." Raven said. "Er… Nero just bought a bunch of mattresses made of… feathers."

Cherry groaned.

Nero. He was going to be so furious with her when he found out…

_do i have to?_

_**Yes. Now. Or I'll kill them. **_

_87587621_ Raven typed slowly.

_**Are you certain?**_

_yes_

_**I have a knife to her throat. **_

_24 not 21 _Raven corrected quickly.

_**And that is all?**_

_yes_

_**Thank you.**_

_go to hell_

Raven shoved her phone back in her pocket, resisting the urge to chuck it out the window. She realized she was shaking.

"I need to go speak to the pilot." She said, standing up. No one looked up.

She walked into the cockpit, drawing her sword as she entered.

"Yes?" the pilot asked, turning around.

SLASH!

He crumpled. Raven shoved his body out of the chair and started to land the Shroud.

"Tally?" Jacob asked, making her jump. "What are you-"

She whirled around, pressing the point of her sword to his throat.

They landed. Raven could hear the others standing up.

"What are you doing?" Jacob repeated.

"It's for Max." Raven said quietly. "It was for Max…"

She turned the sword around so the point was to her chest.

"They aren't getting me, though." She whispered, and thrust it forward.


	57. Betrayal

Cherry poked her head through the door.  
"Natalya, Jacob, I think we need to go- we've landed in the middle of you know where and our camoflage is off-" Cherry stopped as she noticed what she was looking at. Raven was on the floor, her front covered in blood, and Jacob was kneeling over her holding Raven's bloody sword.

"Cherry." Jacob said. "I can explain, but only if you don't overreact-"

"OMIGAWDYOUKILLEDHER!" Cherry screamed, losing her head completely.  
"That would be classified as overreacting." Jacob sighed. "No- Svetlana, you don't understand-"  
"YOU'RE A TRAITOR! I'M GOING TO KEEEEEEELL YOU, LEONID!"  
"No- she was the traitor-"  
"SO YOU KILLED HER? BEFORE SHE COULD EXPLAIN HERSELF?!"  
"For the last time, I didn't kill her!" Jacob yelled. "And stop spitting on me!"  
"Then who did?!" Cherry hissed.  
"What are you two screaming about?" Otto asked, as he entered, closely followed by Lucy. "Who killed who? And there's a bunch of guys outside- was this where we were supposed to land?"  
Lucy yelled as a knife suddenly erupted from her abdomen. She collapsed onto Otto, who nearly fell over.  
"Yes." said Furan, shoving the two out of the way. "Yes it was."  
Otto heard Gabby scream, followed by a gunshot.  
"What are you doing to the others?" he yelled.  
"I have no idea- it depends on my mood." Furan said. "And right now, I'm on a rather bad one. Furan, get Miss Presscott."  
Otto was shoved aside by Cherry. She picked up Lucy and dragged her in front of Furan.  
"You're a Furan?" Lucy choked out.  
"Yes." said Furan. "She's is the daughter of my late sister."  
"Anastasia's dead?" Jacob asked. "YESSSS!"  
"No." Furan growled. "My sister Zoey."  
"You never told me that." Cherry said softly.  
"I don't tell you a lot of things. Bring the girl outside."  
Cherry nodded and vanished.  
"Why is she taking orders from you?" Otto said, standing up. He wasn't sure what was going on, but he knew it was bad. "Is she a traitor?"  
"No." Furan looked down at Raven, who looked small and frail in Jacob's arms.  
"So you'd rather die then face the consequences of your treachery." Furan spat in her face. "Coward."  
He heard someone laugh, and turned around.  
"Oh, you'd know all about that, wouldn't you?" Shaesta said, stepping towards him.


	58. My parents are insane

Chapter $E{PLKKVRCDVBNMM %&

Mrrrrrrr… I don't know…

**Seventeen years previously.**

"_Why is this place even here?" Vanessa asked. "I mean why build a big office building in the middle of nowhere?"_

"_Well, why build a secret assassin training base in the middle of nowhere?" Mark asked._

"_To keep people from finding it- oh, duh." Vanessa said._

"_Yeah." Mark said. _

_CRASH!_

_They both froze. _

"_That didn't sound good." Vanessa said. _

_Mark poked his head out the door. He saw a figure heading towards them- two, actually. And he saw a fire in the distance. _

"_We should go." Vanessa said. Serenity nodded. _

"_No." Mark said. _

"_What?" Vanessa asked._

"_No." Mark didn't know why, but he had the feeling he needed to stay here. "I just have a feeling…"_

"_Mark, your feelings aren't always that accurate." Vanessa pointed out. "Remember the potato salad?"_

"_There was nothing wrong with the potato salad!" Mark protested. He was transfixed by the two people, specifically the smaller one, who was supporting the first. _

"_There is something fundamentally wrong with you." Vanessa decided. _

_###_

"_Go on ahead." The man said. He was limping badly. "I'll catch up."_

"_No." said the girl next to him. "No, this is a dangerous place. I'm not leaving you."_

"_You've been here before?"_

_The girl was about to answer when she saw a boy run out of the building in front of them. He slid in the snow(slush) and landed on his butt in front of him._

_The girl looked down at him. He seemed familiar. The hairs on the back of her neck prickled. _

_His eyes opened. They were blue. Icy blue. _

_The girl screamed_


	59. My parents are embarassing

_She panicked. She didn't notice that the blue had just been the light, and that this guy didn't look _that _much like Pietor Furan. She just kicked the boy in the crotch. _

_The boy yelled in pain. A girl ran out from the building, followed by a smaller one. "What did you do to my brother?" she hissed, helping the boy to his feet. _

_The girl stopped panicking and noticed the things she hadn't noticed earlier. She flushed. _

"_Sorry." She muttered. "I thought he was someone else. Can you help me with him?" _

_The older girl took over supporting the man, and they hurried into the abandoned building. _

"_See." said the man. "I told you it would be all right, Natalya."_

"_Is that your name?" the little girl asked._

_The boy snorted. _

"_No way." He said. "I bet she has a cool name… like Storme or Angel or something." _

"_My name is Raven." Raven said, glaring at him._

"_See?" the boy said, waving his hands wildly. _"That_ makes sense."_

"_Sorry about him." The older girl sighed. "The stupid one is Mark, I'm Ana- Vanessa and the short one is Serenity."_

"_I am not short!" Serenity protested. "Da said I was in the 60__th__… percent thingy for six year olds!"_

_Vanessa rolled her eyes. "Don't call him that, he doesn't deserve it." She looked at Raven. "What are you two doing here?" _

_Raven and the man eyed each other. _

"_We were… shot down." Raven said carefully. _

"_Cool." Vanessa said happily. "Were there explosions?" _

"_A bit too many." Raven rubbed her arm, where part of her sleeve was burnt away. _

"_Yeah, we just escaped from-" Mark started, but Vanessa stepped hard on his foot. _

"_From our dad." Vanessa lied. (Well, it wasn't really a lie if she was just leaving some parts out.)"And our aunt. And hopefully, they won't find us."_

"_They're close." Serenity informed everyone. _

"_Great." Mark said sarcastically. "You should probably leave." He looked at Raven. "Wouldn't want your pretty face getting messed up."_

_Raven pointed to the scar on her cheek. "It already has, idiot." she said. "And if you are referring to Pietor and Anastasia Furan, I think I'll stay." _

"_I want to go!" the man said, but no one was paying attention to him. He sighed. _


	60. My parents emabarass themselves

"_Serenity, you go upstairs." Vanessa ordered. "With…" She looked at the man. "Sorry, didn't catch your name." _

"_I didn't throw it." The man laughed. "I'm Bartholomew."_

"_Wow!" Serenity said. "That's a long name."_

"_Yes it is." Bartholomew ruffled her hair. "Okay, come on, missy."_

"_I like you." Said Serenity happily. "I wish you were my daddy, 'stead of Pietor."_

_Raven whipped around to glare at Mark and Vanessa. "Is this true?" she said sharply._

"_Yes." Vanessa growled. "You got a problem with that?"_

"_Yeah." Raven crossed her arms. "How do I know I can trust you?"_

"_GET DOWN!" Mark yelled. He tackled her, throwing her to the floor, and the bullet that was meant for her ended up in Mark's shoulder. _

"_Okay." Raven panted. "That works." _

_Vanessa grabbed the crossbow from her bag and fired in the direction the bullet had come. She was rewarded by a cry of pain. Raven shoved Mark off of her. _

"_Are you okay?" _

"_I would get better faster if you kissed me." Mark moaned. _

_Raven hit him, then drew her swords and passed one to him. _

"_What am I supposed to do with this?" Mark asked. _

"_Not die!" Raven snarled. _

"_Right." Mark said, looking uncertain._

"_A good way to start would be to _stand up_." Raven growled. _

"_I knew that." Mark scrambled to his feet. _


	61. Can my life get any wierder?

Chapter CHEESEY CHEESEY CHEESE FRIES

Can my life get any weirder?

Don't answer that.

Anastasia raised her hand to her ear suddenly.

"Okay." She said. "Bring the ones we need to me. Put the rest with the other children."

"Who're you talking to?" I asked.

Anastasia motioned for me to be quiet.

"I mean, seriously." I said. "Are you crazy? Because if so, that explains a lot." I was feeling really lightheaded, so I kept talking (and I know that logic makes no sense, I don't care.) "Sometimes I hear stuff in my head too. Actually, I have my very own personal Voice-In-The-Back-Of-My-Head. Isn't that cool?"

Anstasia slapped me, then said, "You're kidding, right?"

"No… there really is a voice in my head." I told her. "Her name's Evangaline."

"I'M NOT TALKING TO YOU, NOW SHUT UP OR I WILL SERIOUSLY INJURE YOU!" Anastasia yelled, then flushed. "No, not you, Pietor…"

"Oh, you're talking to Peter?" I asked.

She ignored me. "Bring me her body, I want to see it."

"Who's body?" I said, a terribly sinking feeling in my chest.

"Yes, who's?" said Overlord, appearing out of thin air and making me scream.

"Are you trying to blow my eardrums out?" Anastasia growled at me.

"Maaaaaybe…" I said, smirking.

"_Who's_?" Overlord said insistently.

"Raven's." Anastasia grinned.

"WHAT!?"

Strangely, this didn't come from me, but from Overlord. I was still in shock.

"WE NEEDED HER ALIVE!" he yelled.

"But I got it from her-"

"IT'S A WORD, NOT A STRING OF NUMBERS!" Overlord yelled. "SHE WAS… IS TRICKING YOU, OR WAS TRICKED HERSELF!"

"Oh." Anastasia said in a small voice.

"I'm going to get down there, maybe I can heal her." He said, and vanished.

"WOOOO-HOOOOO!" I yelled. "GOOOOOOOOOO OVERLORD!"

Who knew I'd ever say _that_ sentence?


	62. Only just

"Why are you here?" Furan snarled at Shaesta.

"Cuz I was bored and I figured I'd come try to kill you. " Shaesta shrugged. "What? You would prefer I was elsewhere?"

"Yes," Said Furan through gritted teeth. "because Bastille told me you want to kill me."

"I do." Shaesta said. "And for a valid reason. Which leads to you being a coward. And you have no right to call poor Natalya one, by the way."

"Why?"

"Because you are probably about 30% of the reason why she killed herself." Sheasta explained.

"I thought it would be more then that." Furan said.

"No, because of Anastasia. I had to give you equal shares." Shaesta stepped towards him. "And now you die."

"I thought you like me." Furan said.

"I did, before I found out what you're really like. " Shaesta drew a knife from her jacket pocket. "I used to be so jealous of Bastille… now I wouldn't trade places with her for the world. "

"You did love me, then."

"Why do you care?" Shaesta took another step. She thrust out with the knife but Furan grabbed her wrist, spun her towards him and held her arms tightly. He grabbed the knife from her and tossed it away.

Shaesta slammed her hand into his chest. Furan gasped and collapsed. Shaesta ran to grab the knife, but then someone yelled. "WINTERS!"

Shaesta whipped around and saw Overlord. She gasped and vanished.

Overlord helped Furan up.

"She's gotten powerful." He said. Furan grunted in response.

"Where is she?" Overlord asked. "The woman."

Furan pointed to where Jacob was holding Raven.

Overlord shoved Jacob out of the way and grabbed Raven's wrist.

"She's alive." he said. "But only just. Get her to the medical center _immediately. _She's our only way to get it from Nero."

"What are you going to do with the rest of us?" Otto asked.

"I need you, and Miss. Presscott. The others, Anastasia can have."

_That does _not _sound good._ Otto thought.


	63. The most fail rescue ever

Mark stuck his head around the corner. He saw no one, and was about to lead Franz, Shelby and the others down the hall, when Furan walked very quickly around the corner, not even stopping to glare at Mark. Someone was thrown over his shoulder. For a moment, Mark thought it was Anastasia. Then he realized it was Raven.

"Why is she- what's going on?" Mark spluttered, running towards Furan.

"I'm taking her to the medical center."

"Why?"

"Because Overlord said so."

"What happened to her?"

"She tried to kill herself, and nearly succeeded."

"Then why aren't you running?" Mark asked.

"I will not." Furan said.

"What if I chased you with a stick?"

Furan stopped and turned around to stare at Mark. _"Really_?" he said.

"It was just an idea." Mark remembered what he was doing. "I should probably get back to… what I was doing."

"Great idea." Furan said, then continued walking.

"Okay." Mark said once he had gone. "Come on."

Soon they emerged in the courtyard where the Shroud had landed.

"Okay." Mark said. "You guys go."

"What about Vanessa?" Shelby asked. "And Raven?"

"I'll take care of them, you five get out of here." Mark ordered.

"Raven came?" Nigel said.

"Was- was Otto there?" Laura gasped.

"I- he might have been-"

Laura ran off.

"Great." Mark said. "Okay, she's staying. Let's go,"

"Not without Laura and Otto and Vanessa and Raven and whoever else is here." Shelby told him, then dashed off after Laura.

"Fantabulous." Mark said as he trotted after them. "This has got to be the most fail of a rescue ever."


	64. Cheese is very yummy

"Ow." I said.

The empty room did not answer back. I was glad. That would have been a little bit creepy.

Anastasia had gone off somewhere, probably to go powder her nose or something stupid like that. Leaving me here. With a chair. And a box.

Unfortunately, I was tied to the chair, so I couldn't get out the skylight.

_Why do I want to get out, again_? I asked myself. It was kind of hard to think. There was a lot of blood on my shirt.

"I don't have school, tomorrow is a Saturday." I said.

Again, no response from the room.  
I think at some point I passed out. I remembered waking up, though. I think anyone would, if they were woken up like that.

###

_Am I dead? _Raven asked herself.

Then she thought of two more important questions.

_If I am dead, why is there a cat on my head? And why is someone whistling Darth Vader's theme music in the background?_

Raven decided that the way to answer all three questions was to open her eyes.

No, she was not dead. She was in a hospital. It hurt to move. Mark was whistling and sitting at the end of her bed. Furan was standing by the door. And General Franks was on her head.

"What the _heck _is going on?" Raven said sleepily.

"Shh." Mark told her.

"Are you on his side now?" Raven asked.

"No." Mark detached General Franks from her forehead, and set him on his lap.

"Then why did you let me fall?"

_Because I know how they break you._ he thought. _I know how this ends, and it isn't pretty._

"I'm sorry." Mark said, and kissed her gently. "I promise it won't happen again."

The next thing that came from Raven was totally unexpected.

"I love you." she said, then smiled and fell back asleep.

Mark turned to Furan.

"How much pain medication did you give her?" he asked.


	65. Namesake

"I saw no need to waste such things on her." Furan said stiffly.

"You didn't give her any pain medication?" Mark spluttered. He shook his head. "Poor Raven. No wonder she went temporarily insane."

"What are you doing here?" Furan growled at him.

"I could ask the same of you." Mark snapped.

"I am making sure she doesn't escape." Furan explained.

"She can't walk, much less escape!" Mark yelled. "You're hiding from Anastasia again, aren't you?"

"Leave me alone." Furan growled. He stared at the wall and escaped into the past.

**Thirteen years previously.**

_He looked up from his fight with Vanessa and saw her, curled up next to Nero, her newborn baby pressed tightly to her. Blood was soaking her sweatshirt sleeve from Anastasia's wayward shot. _

_WHAM!_

_He stumbled back, dazed from Vanessa's punch. Then he ran for the fire escape. The red head was already dashing up. _

"_I've got her under control!" Anastasia told him. _

_Nero scooped her up and ran. He was fast, but Svelana was faster, and Furan was right on her heels. Unfortunately, General Franks was _literally _on his and he had to stop and detatch the cat. By this time, Svetlana had Raven and Nero cornered._

"_Nice work." He pointed his gun at the baby's head. "I'll take over from here-"_

_BAM!_

_Zoey was on him, fighting like a crazed wild cat. "Oh-no-you-don't!" she got out. Furan tried to shake her off, but Zoey hung on like she always used to when they fought over the last pancake. _

_They were getting dangerously close to the edge. _

_Furan finally threw his sister off. She stood, panting. He glared down at her. _

"_Damn you." Zoey snarled, and shoved him as hard as she could. Which was pretty hard. _

_Furan lost his balance and went over the edge. _

_He was falling, falling, falling- then someone grabbed his hand. _

"_Anastasia?" he called. But it was Zoey. She deliberately looked away from him, then whistled a simple tune. A rope sprang up from nowhere, tying him to the edge. Zoey ran off. _

_The next thing he knew, Anastasia pulled him up. _

"_We lost Raven." She said. "And Svetlana."_

"_Vanessa?"_

_Anastasia grinned. _

"_You'll see." She said. _


	66. Vanessa Winters

_Vanessa was lying on the roof, blood staining her shirt._

"_They got away." She panted. "Even if you go and kill me, they still got away."_

"_Trust me, I do not intend to kill you." Anastasia knelt next to her and examined her face. "If we fix the nose, and your cheeks… same height, same build… oh, and you'll need this." She pulled a knife from her jacket and cut across Vanessa's cheek._

"_What on earth are you doing?" Furan asked, completely confused. Anastasia ignored her. _

"_Tell me, Vanessa." She said. "How well do you know our friend Raven?" _

**Now**

The woman sat on the chair, pretending to sleep. Really, she had one eye open and was watching the man who had a machine gun constantly pointed at her head. But this man, she knew, often got tired when he took a shift at night... When she could be sure he was in enough of an exhausted daze, she pulled the thin black box from the pocket of her jumpsuit and touched it to the computerized locks on her restraints. There was a low whirrr, then a click as the lock popped open. Once she'd opened all the locks, she sat still for a moment. This was the part where she had to trust whoever was helping her out. And the woman had some trust issues. Mostly for good reasons.

She waited sixty seconds, prayed the cameras were on a loop by now, and got up. She walked quickly to the door in her cell, and pressed the box to that as well. This, along with instructions for her escape, had been delivered to her two days ago. She wanted to get out so badly, she had decided to trust whoever it was. Or partially, anyway.

The door opened and she walked silently over to the now dozing guard and killed him. She relieved him of the pistol he also carried, then crept along the narrow catwalk where the top-level prisoners were kept. She descended the stairs, and hit the man at the bottom of them with the pistol. He crumpled, and she caught him before he could fall and gently lowered him to the floor.

It was dark and silent on the main level, and there was no way to get down further unless you were a guard. This was the most risky part in the plan. The woman made her way to the huge glass window on one side. She looked out onto the city skyline- no sign of her ride. But that didn't necessarily mean anything, she told herself. They could be hiding.

They must be hiding.

She crouched down- the vial was hidden exactly where they'd said it would be. She opened it and poured some in a circle on the glass. It melted away.

Alarms began to sound, and more men hurried towards her. The woman sat in the hole, her legs dangling out the 150 foot drop. She shivered. No sign of her ride-

A patch of black suddenly appeared fifty feet down from where she was. There. The woman shoved herself out the window. She flipped and landed gracefully and silently on the ramp.

At least- that was what happened in her head. In reality, her bad leg buckled under her, and she landed painfully on her side. A man helped her up. He had an ageless face, reddish-brown hair and blue eyes, and was dressed in an immaculate suit.

"Thanks." the woman said.

"Welcome." said the man. "If you don't mind..." He pulled a thin knife from inside his jacket and cut into her wrist. The woman flinched slightly, but did not say anything.

After a few moments, he removed a bloody bit of metal. "We don't want them tracking you down again." He threw it over the side of the ramp, and then led the woman up it and into what seemed to be some sort of aircraft. He noticed the woman staring.

"Thermoptic camouflage." he told her. "Just how long have you been away?"

"Thirteen years." she said. She sat down on a bench. "Who are you?"

"Most call me Kaito." He sat down next to her. "And what should we call you?"

The woman thought for a moment. "Rae works." she decided. She didn't know how much this man knew, and she didn't want to give him any extra information.

Her face was heavily scarred from the past thirteen years, but the one on her cheek still showed…


	67. 1,0005

"AHHHHHHHHHHH!" I yelled. "OTTO, FOR CRYING OUT LOUD! MOST PEOPLE DO NOT APRECIATE BEING WOKEN UP LIKE THAT!"

Once again, he removed his face from my face.

"Thank you." I said. I noticed that Lucy was also present, leaning against the wall looking very pale, and that Otto had Max in his arms. Otto seemed to notice this at exactly the same time, and handed him to me.

"You take him, he's your brother." He said. "And he's heavy. And smells bad."

"I am so sorry." I snapped, taking him.

Max cooed, then drooled on my shirt.

"AHH!" I yelled, wiping it away. "BAD midget brother! Bad!"

"He's a baby." Lucy said.

"He's still short." I told her.

"Ug, whatever." Lucy rubbed her temples. "Ow. Why couldn't he have stuck _you _with the knife?" she asked Otto. "You are way more annoying."

"No, he's not." Said a too-familiar voice.

OMGWHYWASSHEHEREWHYDOESSHEAL WAYSHAVETOSHOWUPANDRUINMYLIF E!?

_Damn _you, Laura Brand, you stupid-

Whoops. Stop swearing and get back on topic.

She-who-must-not-be-named ran over to Otto and threw her arms around his neck.

"You're alive!" Otto said. Stupid thing to say, in my opinion. Yes, she's alive and she very obviously wants to make out with you, so shut up you stupid idiot and move your lovey-dovey crap out of my face!

But all I said was "Max, you really do smell."

"A-gaga!" Max squealed.

"Yes, I am." Laura closed her eyes and leaned up. But Otto didn't kiss her, he just let go of her, which made Laura nearly fall over, which made me snort. (Can I point out here that no one had yet had the brilliant idea to UNTIE ME?!)

"Sorry… I-I'm seeing someone." Otto said quietly. He kissed the top of Laura's head, and went over to untie me. (THANK YOU! MY CIRCULATION COULD HAVE BEEN CUT OFF BY THIS TIME! WHY DIDN'T ANYONE THINK OF THIS!?)

The expression on Laura's face was hi-_larious._

"NOT… _HER_?!" she shrieked, making this ridiculous face in my direction.

_Please say yes, please say yes, I want to see Laura's head explode…_

"No." said Otto. "Her name's Gabby."

Unfortunately, Laura's head did not explode. However, she did burst into tears. At this point something strange happened. Like, a 1,000.5 on my weirdness scale.

_I felt pity. _

I felt pity for Laura Brand.

WHAT THE ACTUAL HECK WAS GOING ON HERE!?

Next thing you know, Raven'll be running off with her boyfriend or something…


	68. A lot of things happen

Chapter YUM

Sad sad sad. What is wrong with my life?

Nero sighed.

_Why did the stupid report have to be like three hundred pages long?_ He thought. _And I'm so tired…_

And there was the whole Raven-being-a-traitor thing.

He hadn't confronted her, because he got the feeling she wasn't in control of that situation. Someone's life was probably on the line. Him getting involved could mean their death. And he knew Raven could probably handle it on her own. So he'd just made sure any important secrets she might gain access to were swapped with not-so-important gibberish.

Like the code Merrin had told him to guard with his life.

He didn't really get why the word 'lovely' was so important, but whatever. If Merrin said it was important, it was important.

Except for the whole coffee thing. That was just weird.

###

Furan realized he'd fallen asleep. Whoops. He shook himself awake and realized that Raven was gone.

Mark was also gone.

Anastasia was not going to like that.

_Oh, crud. _

###

Shelby raced around the corner and saw the blond lady with Wing, a blond girl she didn't know, a man, and Ben. So she took a leaf out of Vanessa's book, and pulled off her shoe. Then she threw it at Ally. It connected, and the lady crumpled with a thud.

"Yay!" Franz yelled. "Friends!"

"Where is Otto?" Madelynn asked. In retrospect, Shelby probably should have wondered how she knew that Otto existed. But she was preoccupied at the time. By Wing. She ran over and hugged him.

"Hello." he said.

"Don't I get a hug?" Ben said, irritated. Shelby swatted him.

Madelynn suddenly collapsed.

"Dude." The man said, pulling her up. Then he gasped. "Madeylnn?"

"Jacob?"

"Shouldn't you be, you know, _older_?" Jacob said. "Weren't you this age when I was twelve?"

"Shut up!" Madelynn yelled. "We've got to get out of here _now_!"

"But what about Otto?" the blond girl said.

"And Vanessa?" Ben said.

"And Lucy!" Nigel said. "Don't forget about Lucy!"

"And Raven, and Max, and my sister." Jacob set his jaw into a stony expression. "I'm not leaving my sister."

"You need to stay here." Madelynn said firmly. "The rest of us need to get to the Shroud now! Or we'll never get out of here!"

"How do you know?" Ben asked.

"I can see things, okay?" Madelynn snarled. "What's going to happen. WE HAVE TO GO!"

"All right, all right." Nigel said.

"But I haven't even found the snack bar yet!" Franz complained.


	69. Poor, poor Raven

Raven slipped and grabbed Mark's shoulder. "Where are we going?" she got out. She was barely conscious. Mark scooped her up.

"We're going to run away." He told her. "We're going to start over and I will make sure no one ever finds us."

Raven smiled.

"Dad!"

Mark turned around and saw his daughter, Gracie, running towards him. _Oh, God, not now. _They were nearly to the Shroud. Just a few more yards.

"Dad!" Gracie skidded to a halt. "What's going on? Who's that? Where's Mum?"

"Who's this?" Raven asked.

"This is…my daughter." Mark said quietly, knowing he was writing his own death sentence.

"And who's her mother?" Raven suddenly seemed awake and alert.

"Ally." Mark said.

Raven was stunned for a split second, then lost it. She kicked him in the stomach. "OOF!" Mark blurted, and dropped her. Raven sprang to her feet.

"YOU-COMPLETE-_MORON_-I-HATE-YOU-I-HATE-YOU-" With each word, she hit him. Mark was forced to step backwards to avoid the blows.

"They would have killed me otherwise- I had no choice-"

"YOU ALWAYS HAVE A CHOICE!" Raven screamed.

"Yeah." Mark snarled, his temper rising. "And you've made yours, haven't you? Letting them make you into-"

Her fist connected with his jaw. Mark stumbled backwards, then fell, hitting the stone with a CRACK.

"NO!" Raven screamed, shaking Mark's shoulders. "No-NO!"

"… into something you're not…" Mark blinked, then was still.

Raven went completely limp. She lay down next to Mark, and didn't noticed Ben, Wing, Madelynn, Nigel, Franz and Shelby race across the courtyard to the Shroud. She also didn't notice the shouts of the men who tried to stop them, or the sound of the brief fight with the guards. Or the Shroud finally taking off.

She was totally dead to the world, until Anastasia said "What have we here?"

Raven looked up and saw Anastasia smirking down at her.

"Kill me now." she whispered. "Please."

"Trust me, I would love to, but we still need you."

Then Anastasia knocked her out.


	70. A very interesting party

Cherry jerked awake. She was in a hallway, leaning against the wall.

_Huh? How did I get here? The last thing I remember is Furan barging in… what happened?_

"Miss?"

Cherry looked up and her jaw dropped. "Errr…" she said intelligently, staring at the white-haired man in front of her. _Is it physically possible for humans to be that hot?_ She noticed that his eyes were red, but she didn't really care. They could have been purple with yellow polka dots, and she wouldn't have cared.

"You are Svetlana?" he asked her.

"Cherry." She said._ That is my name, right?_

"Ah. Thank you. Why don't you come with me?"

_Yes, gladly. _"Okay." She followed the man as they went down the hallway to a door. This place looked sort of familiar… why?

"Your brother and friend should be along shortly." The man said, opening the door. Cherry entered, and saw a dark haired girl sitting in a chair holding Max, Lucy slumped against the wall, a redhead crying and Otto standing in the middle, looking oblivious.

"What's going on? Who's the hot guy?" Cherry spluttered.

"That's Overlord." The girl in the chair told him. "He's a bad dude."

"I'm sure he's just misunderstood." Cherry told her.

"Aren't you Raven's friend that obeys Furan?" Otto said.

"Svetlana Furan." Lucy muttered sleepily. She pulled something out from under her shirt, a locket. "A cursed child."

Cherry flinched. She didn't know where, but she'd heard those words before and they hurt. She was just noticing… there were strange gaps in her memories. Especially when she was little- she could only remember about half of it.

The door opened again, and Anastasia came in, dragging Raven. She dumped her on the floor. "Seems I'm late for the party." She said, smirking.

Raven did not move, just lay there staring at the ceiling, her expression grief-stricken.

"Mum!" The girl jumped up from her chair and ran towards, shaking her shoulders. "Mum, snap out of it!"

BANG!

Jacob ran in, his eyes wild.

"Rubee!" he yelled, running in and grabbing her arms. "We've got to leave now before they make you do something bad!"

"What are you talking about?" Cherry asked. "They can't make me do anything I don't want to!"

"Furan, shut him up." Furan snapped, entering the room and slamming the door shut. Cherry blacked out. She came to a few seconds later. Jacob was lying on the floor.

"Thank you." Furan said, walking across the room. "He annoys me greatly."

"What-what did I do?" Cherry spluttered. "What's going on?"

Furan ignored her and tapped Anastasia on the shoulder. "We have a problem." he told her.

"What?" she said.

"She's escaped." Furan pulled a black and white image from his pocket. "And guess who helped her?"

He showed her the picture.

When she saw the man in the picture, Anastasia gasped. "But… he would have to be dead by now! Or at least a really old man…"

"Tell that to him." Furan said.


	71. I chase a fully-grown adult with a stick

"Raven?" I asked. I glared at Furan when she did not respond. "What did you do to her?"

"Nothing." He said.

"Yeah right."

"She tried to kill herself, and was injured previously." Anastasia said calmly. "Since she was injured by Abby and Ally, those wounds contain a virus that is right now killing her." She smiled.

"And she hit her head." Jacob said, noticing Raven for the first time. He came over to where I was and brushed the hair from Raven's face. "Tally? Are you with us?"

Everyone seemed to be watching them. Raven sat up, rubbed her forehead, and then to everyone's surprise, started crying weakly into Jacob's shoulder.

"Mom?" I said, shifting Max to my hip. "Is something wrong?"

"She betrayed us." Lucy said. Her eyes looked a little glassy, and there was blood all down her front. Sophie flashed before my eyes. I didn't want someone else to die… but I had the feeling if I so much as touched Lucy, she would murder me. Painfully. And that was _so _not on my to-do list.

What she said hit me. "Uhh… no. It was probably a misunderstanding."

Raven shook her head, and cried harder.

"You were… being a double agent, then." I said, grasping at straws.

She shook her head again. "I… they said they would take Max away." she choked out. "Let him start over… if I gave all of you up…"

"It's true." Furan said.

"You have duct tape stuck to your forehead." I informed him.

He pulled it off and made a face. "So I do." He said.

"You looked ridiculous." I told him.

"Shut up, brat." He snarled.

I decided to try to insult him in Russian. Emphasis on _try_.

Furan looked at me like I was nuts. "My… pants are green?"

"YES!" I yelled. (To this day, I am not quite sure how I managed to say _that_. But whatever.)

"Is that… supposed to be an insult?" His mouth twitched, like he was trying not to smile.

There are several universal laws. One of them is that when you really, really need a parking space, you can't find one. Another is that ninjas are really annoying when you get to know them. But the one I took advantage of now was the fact then when someone runs at you screaming, you run, and then you chase them (this is especially true of anyone under the age of ten). So I reached into my boot, pulled out a stick, screamed "YAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAARGG GGGG!" and ran at Furan.

It worked. Chasing people with sticks is fun.


	72. Immortals behave badly

Chapter !IQOTHEDGNJKVNK

Immortals behave badly.

**Seventeen years previously**

_Serenity was not fazed when she heard shots and yelling coming from below. She trusted her brother and sister. They wouldn't let anything happen to her. _

_Bartholomew, though, looked a little freaked out._

"_Don't worry." Serenity told him. "We'll be fine."_

"_It's Raven I'm worried about." He said. "If I lose her…" He sighed, and stared off into space. _

"_Well, what do we have here?" said an unfamiliar voice. Serenity looked around and saw a man. He had an ageless face, reddish-brown hair and blue eyes, and was dressed in an immaculate suit. "One of Pietor's children and Nero, all by themselves."_

_Serenity decided she didn't like him. _

"_Hi." She said. _

"_Hello there." The man said. He pressed his hand to her forehead. A crescent shape appeared for a split second, blazing with a golden light, then it was gone and the man was thrown backward._

_He picked himself up. "My, your mother certainly didn't want me to touch you." He smiled. "Unfortunately, her protection does not extend to a friend of mine."_

"_I'm not your friend." Anastasia snarled, entering the room. "I'd rather die before I helped you."_

"_But you want this little girl dead as much as I do." The man said. "Which makes us friends by default."_

"_What has she done?" Bartholomew asked, starting to move in front of Serenity. "Leave her-"_

_Anastasia shot him. He collapsed, blood soaking into Serenity's boots. She didn't move. Never in her life had she been so completely terrified. _

_Anastasia advanced on her, drawing a knife from her pocket and tossing the gun over her shoulder. "Now," she said with a terrifying smile. "Let's have some fun." _


	73. Unfinished Buisness

_###_

"_You are very like your mother, you know." Kaito said as Anastasia wiped the blood off her hands with her sleeve. _

_Anastasia froze up. "You have no right to talk about her." She hissed. _

"_I loved her." Kaito said. _

"_No, you didn't. You used her to get Zoey, then murdered her and left us with a stupid brat." Anastasia snarled. _

"_I thought you killed her."_

"_On your orders."_

"_It would turn Pietor against you if he knew. You ruined his life."_

"_Well, you ruined mine!" Anastasia yelled, and she charged at him. But she slipped in Serenity's blood, and slammed into the wall instead. _

"_You need to control your temper." Kaito said calmly. _

"_I know, I've been trying but-" She winced. "Why am I telling you this?" she muttered. _

"_Family should stick together."_

"_Don't try that with me, step-fathers don't count." Anastasia growled. _

"_I don't count?" Kaito seemed amused. "I made you what you are today, and I don't count?"_

"_You made me into a freak, that's nothing to be proud of!" she yelled. _

"_So you admit you are a freak." _

"_SHUT UP!" _

"_YOU-" _

_Vanessa tackled Anastasia from behind, pinning her to the ground. She held Anastasia's gun in one hand. "You killed my sister." She spat._

"_No, you did." Anastasia said. She saw Kaito standing by, looking like he was watching a mildly interesting movie. "You shouldn't have tried to get away."_

"_Mark and Natalya did get away." Vanessa snarled. "Bartholomew's brother came and rescued them."_

"_Then why didn't you go?" Anastasia growled. "Run like the coward you are." _

_Vanessa smiled. "I had unfinished business." She said, and shot her. _


	74. Anastasia RUTHLESSLY MURDERS my stick

Chapter $%&UIHBK:G

Anastasia kills a stick

(Quick word here before I continue with the story: two examples of Raven's… Raven-ness. Both occurred when she attempted to drive me to school

GPS: Drive four miles north, then turn left onto 48th street.

Vanessa: Er… Raven?

Raven: Yes?

Vanessa: It's telling you to go north… but there is no road going north…

Raven: Then we'll just have to MAKE a road!

I will not elaborate on how that one ended.

Vanessa: Um, Mom? I think we're lost.

Raven: We can't be lost- we have the GPS!

Vanessa: You're not even USING the GPS! YOU'RE SITTING ON IT!

See? THIS is my life.)

My epic stick-chasing ended when Anastasia grabbed my stick and said. "Play time is over now, children." in a really sarcastic voice.

THEN SHE SNAPPED MY STICK IN HALF!

!

"HEY!" I yelled.

"Stop acting like an idiot and at least pretend to be normal." She ordered me.

"That was a perfectly good stick!"

She shoved me. I stumbled backwards, nearly crashing into Lucy.

"Lucy?"

She was unconscious.

"Fight me."

"What?" I said. I glared at Otto. "Do something!"

"What?" Otto said.

"I don't know- white-haired cuteness magic or something!" I yelled.

"Are you even listening to me?" Anastasia growled.

"I'll get to you in a moment, now shut up." I barked.

"Wrong answer." Anastasia snarled. Then she shot me in the shoulder.

"OWW!" I yelled, mixing in a few words I'd learned from Raven. I pointed to my shoulder. "Does this have a big bulls-eye painted on it? NO! So stop shooting/stabbing me there! Geez!"

"I _said_ fight me." Anastasia yelled.

"FINE!" I snapped. I pulled out one sword and aimed a kick at her gun hand. She darted out of reach and I teetered, off-balance.

Hang on a moment.

I got an idea. A crazy, insane idea. But it worked for Wing, so theoretically, it would work for me. If I could only get Anastasia to kick me.

Erm. That was a strange sentence

This is the part where my fighting style goes a bit nuts. I'm just warning you.

I charged straight at Anastasia, my sword raised, yelling like a crazy person. She jumped out of the way, but I jumped towards her at the same time, and grabbed the gun from her hand. I waved it teasingly over my head. "NYAH NYAH!"

Anastasia gritted her teeth, dropped low, and attempted to sweep my feet out from under me, but I jumped in time. (See, Raven? Jump roping IS a useful skill!) She growled- _and kicked at the hand holding the gun!_

I grabbed her ankle, just as Wing had done over a year ago. Anastasia glared at me.

"Let go." She snarled.

"No." I said, and I shoved forward. She fell over, and I landed on top of her.

SCORE!

Unfortunately, I didn't anticipate that she had one hand on the knife in her coat pocket.


	75. Pelicans and ducks

"VANESSA!" Otto yelled. "PELICANS!"

Thankfully, I speak Vanessa and ducked. So Anastasia's knife got my hair instead of my neck.

"Dude." I grumbled. I grabbed her wrist to keep her from cutting me again. "When I want a haircut, I'll _ask_."

"Shut up." Anastasia growled.

"Oh, do _you _want a haircut?" I snarled. "Because I will _so_ give you one."

"I am _terrified._" Anastasia said, just before Furan hauled me off of her.

"That's enough of that, thank you." he said. "Raven, give us your blackbox."

Raven pulled it out of her pocket and threw it at her. Anastasia got up off the ground and caught it.

"Put her on the chair." She ordered Jacob. "I'll call Nero."

"What are you doing?" I snapped. "Leave Raven alone, she's tired."

"We need to get the code from Nero, and that's Raven's job, and then I can kill her." Anastasia said. She smiled. Jacob sat Raven on the chair and knelt next to her. Anastasia pulled out that stupid knife again.

"So… what are you going to do?"

"I am going to hurt Raven until Nero gives me the stupid code." Anastasia growled. "Then I can kill Raven."

"What's she done to you?"

"That's not important." Anastasia said. "Pietor, put the kids somewhere. But keep the baby."

"Right." Furan glared at Otto and Laura and Lucy over my head. "You lot, come on."

###

Rae sat on the end of the bench. She held a laptop computer in her lap and slowly scrolled through pages and pages of words.

"Max's been busy." She muttered.

Kaito stood behind her, watching her expression closely. Her eyes narrowed when she reached the section about Raven.

"That's my crown." She whispered, pressing her finger to the words 'world's deadliest assassin'.

"You hate her, then." Kaito said. "The one who wears your face."

"Why wouldn't I?" Rae said. "She destroyed what was left of my life. I've been locked up for thirteen years because of her." She smiled. It was not a nice smile. "And now I'll get revenge."


	76. Nero and Furan discuss YouTube

Raven shivered. Jacob put his hand on her shoulder. "It'll be fine." He said.

_No it won't. You don't know. You don't know what I did. What they made me do. But I still did it.  
_The door opened and Overlord stepped in. Cherry jumped a foot in the air and blushed deeply. She leaned on the back of the chair and let out a sigh, gazing dreamily at the red-eyed man.

"Svetlana, hold the baby." Anastasia ordered, holding out Max. Cherry took him, but still continued to stare at Overlord.

"And… there we go." Furan held the blackbox in front of Raven's face. "Say hi to Nero."

"Hi." Raven muttered.

Nero looked up.

"Natalya, check this out!" He turned the camera so it faced his laptop screen. "The kitten is riding the puppy- who's riding the pony! And then they all fall off- look, I can replay it-"

"This is not the time to be discussing YouTube videos." Anastasia said crossly, but Furan was staring intently at the screen.

"Look at the puppy's expression." He said. "Isn't that hilarious?"

Anastasia gave him a 'Stop goofing off' look.

"Max, tell us the code you have."

"Er, what code?" Nero got very close to the camera. "Is that Anastasia?"

"Yes."

"Furan?"

"Yes."

"Aren't you-"

"No."

"You sound a little tired of this conversation." Overlord said, his lips twitching as he tried not to smile.

"THAT'S BECAUSE I'VE HAD IT EIGHTY-SIX MILLION TIMES!" Anastasia snarled. "And it's THE code. The code that Merrin Montov gave you."

"No." said Nero. "I could show you another YouTube video I found- this one has a cat that jumps-"

"I SAID NO YOUTUBE!" Anastasia yelled.

"Awe…" Furan muttered.


	77. Laura and I fix our makeup

"Lucy?" I asked. "Are you okay?"

Lucy muttered something about mushrooms and face-kicking, and rolled over.

"Well, at least she's alive." Otto said optimistically.

"Right." I said. We were in what looked like a twin of the room I'd been tortured in. I grinned. "Gimme a second."

I ran into the bathroom and opened up the cabinet under the sink. BUT THERE WAS NO BOX THERE!

"What are you doing?" Laura asked me.

"I'm trying to get out of here." I said.

"Even if we get out of here, we can't leave the base. I've tried. It's too well guarded, and we don't have any transportation."

"Yes, but we have Raven." I reasoned.

"What does that have to do with anything?"

"She'll come up with an insanely nutty scheme that seems crazy, but will somehow magically work." I told her.

"Er… how do you know that'll happen?" Laura asked.

"I just _do_." I said. "Raven will never, ever let me down. Never in a bazillion years."

"Vanessa, Raven's _scared _of the Furans."

"She hasn't figured out how to deal with them yet?" I said. "For the-guy-who's-name-I-can't-pronounce, you just annoy him for a while, and then he'll get so sick of it he'll go off. For Stacy, you just have to puke on her dress."

"But they'd kill you!"

"Nah. They're too surprised." I shrugged. "I'm thinking of starting a school for ninjas and teaching them all my wise ways."

"Yeah… that's one educational establishment I am not attending." Laura muttered.

"Are you guys, like, fixing your makeup in there or something?" Otto yelled. "Get over here and help me with Lucy!"

We both simultaneously looked at each other and rolled our eyes. What was that?! WAS I BECOMING FRIENDS WITH LAURA BRAND!?


	78. Anastasia is interrupted 3 times

Raven lay on the floor. Jacob cradled her gently, whispering to her in Russian. Cherry was a statue, totally fixated on Overlord.  
On the screen, Nero shook his head.  
"I'm sorry." he said, and terminated the connection. The look on his face told Anastasia he knew exactly how Raven would pay for this failure.  
Anastasia knelt next to Raven, drawing her already blood-covered knife. Where would it hurt the most?  
Jacob looked up, and his eyes met hers.  
"Please." he begged. "I'll do anything- just don't kill her."  
"What's the point?" Raven murmured. "We're all just going to die anyway..."  
Anastasia smiled. "Sorry." She said. "I will not be robbed of my chance to destroy her yet ag-"  
"Wait." It was Overlord. "You say this out of love for her?"  
Jacob nodded.  
"She can live one more year." Overlord said.  
"What?!" Anastasia spluttered. "You have GOT to be kidding me! SHE DIES NO-"

Furan grabbed her and pulled her away from Raven. "That's our boss your screaming at- he has a reason for this, Ana."

"I don't ca- mpppph! MMMMMPPPPHH!"

"Thank you." Overlord said. "She is rather loud, isn't she… now, where was I? Miss Raven gets to live one more year- here, in your captivity, Miss Furan. With Mr. Johnson. And any off-spring they have is trained by you two. Does that sound okay?"

Furan and Jacob nodded. Anastasia bit her brother so he took his hand from her mouth. "I- I_ suppose_." she muttered.

"There we go, then." Overlord said. "Now I need to see about getting the Locket and the second Code from Miss Delestelle."

"Er… who's that, again?" Furan asked. He frowned at Anastasia. "And that _hurt_. What do you do, sharpen your teeth or something?"

"I believe she is using her father's name. Presscott. Anyway, Anastasia, you take the little boy, Pietor, you can escort Raven and Jacob to their cell- and Rubee, come with me."

Cherry followed him out of the room.

"Does that mean my brother dies in a year too?" she asked.

"Probably."

Strangely, Cherry found she didn't care very much. As long as this man was alive… everything else didn't matter.  
They ended up outside of another room down the hall. Overlord turned to Cherry.

"Do you know your way around this place?"

"Yes, pretty well."

"Do you know where those two sleep?"

"I think so…"

"Go into that building and wait for me there, will you?" Overlord asked her. Cherry nodded. He touched her cheek. "You're very pretty, you know."

Cherry shivered.


	79. Cold chocolate

Chapter KAPUZLE KAPUZLE KAPUZLE!

What the heck is a kapuzle?

I have absolutely no idea.

We discover the wonderfulness of COLD chocolate

I went back into the main room. Otto was leaning over Lucy, who was awake again and in a bad mood.

"Brand!" she ordered.

"What?" I said. "Where?"

"That's my last name." Laura growled.

"Reeeeeeally?" I said. "Somehow I missed that."

"Oh, for crying out-"

I decided to see if I had another stick in my boot. Or duct tape. Or any kind of tape-like adhesive.

"YES!" I yelled.

"Did you figure out an escape plan?" Laura asked.

"No, I found the packet of instant hot cocoa I shoved in here a while ago." I rooted around some more. "And here's another one…." I headed back toward the bathroom. "I wonder if the water works still- Otto, have you got a cup?"

"No." Otto said.

"Bother- oh, there's the duct tape!" I sat on the bathroom counter and set about making cups out of duct tape. Then I filled them with water, and dumped in the powder. I stirred it a few times, and PRESTO! Instant yumminess.

I handed Laura hers. She made a face. "This is cold."

"I know." I said. "It's cold cocoa."

"That's disgusting." She informed me.

"Try some." I told her.

"You first." She said.

"At the same time, then." I raised my duct-tape cup. "One… two… three!"

Laura and I both drank at the same time. Otto walked over to us. "What have you got there-"

Laura and I simultaneously made a face, then spat the brownish liquid at Otto. He didn't seem to know quite what to do, so he just stood there with it running down his face, turning his bangs brown.

"Wow." I said. "That really is gross."


	80. We smile and nod

"When you three are finished." Lucy said grouchily. We stopped laughing, Otto wiped the cocoa from his face, and we all crowded around her.

"I don't know if I'm strong enough right now to look after this." Lucy fumbled with her shirt and pulled out a locket. She looked at Laura. "Can you?"

"Er… sure." Laura looked confused. She reached out-

"Don't touch it!" Lucy yelled. She took a deep breath. "I, Lucia Delestelle Presscott grant Laura Brand custody of the Eternal Locket."

For a second, the necklace seemed to glow. Then everything was normal again. Laura took it and fastened it around her neck.

"You have to hide it," Lucy said. "from Over-"

The door opened. Overlord came in. Laura barely had time to stuff the locket down her shirt before he was on us.

"You three." He snarled. "Up against the wall."

We followed his instructions. Lucy stood up, though I could tell it took a lot out of her.

Overlord shoved her into the other wall. Lucy yelled. A moment later, he stepped away.

"You haven't got it." He said.

"No," said Lucy. "it vanished. You'll have to track it down." She smirked. "Sorry."

"It would only vanish if the bearer was dead." Overlord said. He put his hand in his pocket. "Or going to die very soon…"

I didn't see what happened next, but there was blood all over Lucy and the floor. Overlord glared at me.

"I suspect you will be moved to your own cell soon. I promised you to Anastasia. Apparently, you have promise." His lip curled. "Personally, I don't see it."

"Maybe you need glasses." I suggested, my face hot.

"We'll see." He said, and then he left.

We ran over to Lucy.

"I'll be okay." she said. "A future G.L.O.V.E. leader is not deterred by trivial matters."

I had no clue what that meant, but I just smiled and nodded. This is generally a good strategy for when you don't know what people are saying. Except for Anastasia. Imploring this method around her may lead to decapitation.

"Oi, Montov! You can stop nodding now!"


	81. I need a stick

Chapter PAPPY

The End in French

Ben, Nigel, Franz, Wing, Gabby, Madelynn and Shelby got back to H.I.V.E. safely.

There's really nothing more to say on this subject.

Until later, anyway.

###

Anastasia came to get me like Overlord had said.

"Hi." I said.

"Hello." Her mouth was set into a thin line as she walked me to my new room.

"You're going to train me?" I said.

"Yes."

"I must warn you, I've failed almost every class at least once."

Her lips twitched. "You remind me of someone I used to know."

"Let me guess. They're dead."

"Why yes, however did you guess?"

"Because you and Raven… you just kind of… well, you can tell you've both lost a lot of people."

"You're smarter then you let on."

"I try to get people to underestimate me." I said. "It usually works."

We arrived at my cell.

"How long am I going to be here?"

"As long as it takes."

"As long as it takes for what?"

"For me to be satisfied."

"Is that hard?"

"So far one person has managed it."

"And she's dead."

"No." Anastasia said. "Maybe to some, but I know her to be very much alive."

"Who? My mom?"

"No. Your aunt."

"The one who I'm named after?"

"Yes. Vanessa."

"Where is she?"

"She's close." Anastasia frowned. "You wouldn't know her if you saw her. Her face was changed."

"Why?"

She closed the door. "Enough questions. I'll be seeing you tomorrow."

"What's going to happen to my friends?"

"What I want."

"And what do you want?"

Furan came around the corner. He looked severely shaken up.

"Ally's dead." I heard him say. "Him. And he left a note. This is our warning. We're to stop."

"We do nothing." Anastasia snapped. "We won't show fear."

"You are afraid?" Furan asked.

"No." Anastasia snarled.

"Yeah, you are." I called.

"Shut up, brat!" Anastasia yelled at me, her face red.

But I smiled. I'd found the chink in her armor.

Now it was only a matter of finding another stick.


	82. Epilogue

Epilogue

_Vanessa jerked awake. Her whole face stung, but she didn't care. _

Natalya and the baby safe. That's what matters.

"_Good to see you up." Anastasia said. She was sitting on her bed. She was in the hospital. _

_Anastasia handed her a mirror._

"_I think you'll be pleased with the resemblance." She said. _

_Vanessa screamed as she caught sight of the face in the mirror- a familiar one, but one that was not hers._

"_What did you do to me?" she whispered. _

"_We need an operative. Someone who Nero trusts."_

_Vanessa understood. She felt sick. _

"_But I can't be Natalya!"_

"_Then _learn_." Anastasia snarled. "Learn or I'll kill you."_

"_Then go and do it." Vanessa hissed. _

"_But first you'll kill Natalya and her little girl."_

"_But… they escaped!"_

"_They're within our reach." Anastasia's hand closed around her wrist. "You'll do it." _

_Then she whispered something in Vanessa's ear._

_Vanessa went red, then white. "You wouldn't dare kill-"_

"_I have before." Anastasia said calmly. _

_Vanessa said something rude._

"_That doesn't help matters at all." Anastasia said. "So you've decided."_

"_Yes." Vanessa said softly. "Yes, I'll do it." _

"_I figured you would." Anastasia said, getting up. "You have 24 hours. Then we leave for the school."_

_Vanessa nodded. Once Anastasia had left, she sank into her pillow and cried. _


End file.
